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THE GIFT OF SUFFERING 

OR 

Meditations on the Mystery of Pain 



BY 

BISHOP H. S. HOFFMAN, D.D, 

of the 

REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

Author of " Life Beyond the Grave w 




NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 
CINCINNATI : JENNINGS & GRAHAM 



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Copyright, 1912, by H. S. HOFFMAN. 



©CLA316783 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Gift of Suffering 5-19 

Is God In Our Lives? 20-31 

Divine Concealments . 32-41 

Insoluble Problems .42-49 

Affliction .51-59 

Benefits of Affliction . 60-72 

Increasing Trouble 73-84 

The Smaller Troubles of Life 85-94 

Resignation 95-108 

The Uses of Sickness ', 109-128 

Recovery from Sickness 129-150 



A FOREWORD. 

Protracted illness called the writer from a very 
active life to spend much time in his home as an 
invalid, and when physically able he wrote a num- 
ber of Meditations such as these which constitute 
this little volume. While there is not the full 
treatment of any one subject to which attention is 
directed, the thoughts herein gather around the 
oft-considered topic of the mystery of life's afflic- 
tions. The purpose of publishing these reflections 
is based upon the hope that some foot-sore traveller 
across the wilderness of trial may read and have 
imparted to him or her measurably the solace that 
was given the writer in transcribing these thoughts. 
Believing that our Heavenly Father and Blessed 
Saviour is ever in and under and behind every 
event, however casual, of our changeful life, over- 
ruling all for His own glory and our ultimate 
good, the writer commits these Meditations to the 
Holy Spirit, praying that He may use the same, 
that some heart may be stimulated to stronger 
trust in God and in His grace, guidance and love. 

June 9th, 1912. 



The Gift of Suffering. 

CHE apostle Paul, in writing to the 
Philippians, i: 29, makes a 
statement that arrests attention 
when he says that faith and suffer- 
ing are alike gifts from the loving 
hand of God. One can readily ac- 
cept the assertion that faith, the 
channel through which flow to us all 
spiritual blessings, is a gift of God. But 
his declaration that suffering, no less 
than faith, is a gift of Divine love, at 
first startles us and does not promptly 
find acceptance in the mind. 

The same is, however, taught in Isa- 
iah xxx : 20, 21, where we read these 
words : "Though the Lord give you the 
bread of adversity and the water of af- 
fliction, thine eyes shall see thy teach- 
ers, and thine ears shall hear a word 
behind thee saying: This is the way, 

5 



The Gift of Suffering. 

walk ye in it.' " Adversity is a gift of 
God, to bring us into touch with blessed 
teachers and to impart to us the faculty 
of hearing the still small voice of 
the Spirit, who indicates to us the way 
of life in which we are to walk — a way 
strangely dark, rough and perhaps 
lonely, but still the way that leads out 
at last into the sunlight of endless glory. 

If we lay hold of the underlying 
thought of the Bible on the subject of 
suffering, we are made to feel deeply 
that God has arranged that it was de- 
signed to be an instrument of advance 
and blessing in moral and spiritual life. 

There is, of course, a sense in which 
all suffering has sin for its cause, for 
were there no sin in the world, there 
could be no pain. Sin having, however, 
gotten into the texture of our being, suf- 
fering, under the wise governance of 
God, has been transformed into an 
agency by which holiness may be per- 



The Gift of Suffering. 

f ected in the character of the believer in 
Christ. 

We certainly err when we regard 
pain as being always the minister of 
justice or as the merited recompense 
for wrongdoing. Of the suffering which 
is meted out to humanity, how small a 
part falls upon the specially guilty. How 
much seems to seek the good. 

Our adorable Saviour very forcibly 
taught that tribulation would fall to the 
portion of all His followers while they 
sojourned on earth. After having im- 
parted to them the gift of faith, He 
might have exempted them from all 
pain and discomfort. But He did not 
so order it. He left them after they 
were saved to take their full share in 
those trials and sufferings under which 
the "whole creation groaned and tra- 
vaileth in pain together." 

He taught that union with Him by a 
divinely-given faith would not lessen, 



The Gift of Suffering. 

but, rather, increase and quicken their 
sensitiveness to suffering. The vagar- 
ies of so-called Christian Science that 
pain has no existence and should be 
treated with indifference as an unnat- 
ural action of the mind, found no place 
in His philosophy. He in no way dis- 
paraged or sought to cast into the shade 
the sore trials and bitter sorrows which 
enter into life. He encouraged His fol- 
lowers to give attention to their sensi- 
bilities to pain. They were not to be 
less men and women by being united to 
Him. He gave way to His own emo- 
tions in their presence. They saw Him 
weep. They beheld Him suffering the 
most excruciating smart. 

Jesus not only taught that we were 
made for and were responsive to pain, 
but He Himself met it, yea, sought it, 
because of the beneficent results which 
would accrue to the race from His en- 
durance of it. He welcomed the cross, 

8 



The Gift of Suffering. 

because He beheld a joy that was be- 
yond it. The prophet spoke of a satis- 
faction that would fill His soul subse- 
quent to His painful travail. Bitter as 
was His passion, He met it, yea, invited 
it, because the highest good was to be 
evolved from it. 

And so, too, it was with His people. 
Though their sufferings were in no way 
to purchase for them the merit of salva- 
tion, yet pain in their case, as a process 
in their lives, was to have its ample and 
blessed compensations. With the most 
tender and boundless sympathy for hu- 
man beings, Jesus was never for an in- 
stant troubled with the question why 
His people suffered pain. He ever took 
for granted that through the sufferings 
which they endured there would be se- 
cured to them a possession that would 
overbalance all present discomfort. His 
teaching accorded with all other Scrip- 
ture upon the subject, that the trials 



The Gift of Suffering. 

and sufferings which enter into life con- 
stitute a discipline for the attainment 
of a character that would fit the soul 
for a higher knowledge of God and for 
a fuller joy in Him. 

He taught that through the doorway 
of suffering there would come to His 
people fresh revelations of His power, 
goodness and love. Anguish of mind 
and distress in the heart were to be op- 
portunities by which to display His 
glory and to convey His special favors 
to the soul. 

When in Perea, beyond Jordan, a 

message was sent to Him couched in 

very tender language, "Lord, he whom 

Thou lovest is sick;" instead of starting 

at once for the Bethany home to relieve 

the anxiety of Mary and Martha, and 

to ward off the arrow of death from 

His friend, He tarried several days. He 

allowed Lazarus to suffer and to die. He 

permitted his body to remain four days 

10 



The Gift of Suffering. 

in the grave, until decomposition had 
set in. He did not interfere with the 
event of death nor with the crushing 
sorrow that came into the home He 
deeply loved. There was a gracious pur- 
pose in all this. Opportunity was thus 
afforded by which He proved His power 
over death and the grave. He brought 
the two sisters into a closer spiritual 
relation to Himself and gave to the 
world a sure pledge that there was life 
beyond the grave by allowing His 
friend Lazarus to experience death. 

When Saul became Paul, it was re- 
vealed to him "how great things he must 
suffer" in Jesus' name. Dr. Stalker has 
truly said: "Work is but one-half of 
life ; suffering is the other half. There 
is a hemisphere of the world in the sun- 
shine of work, but there is another in 
the shadow of suffering." 

There is a large class of texts scat- 
tered througout the Bible which teach 

11 



The Gift of Suffering. 

that the most blessed results are to be 
wrought out of the sufferings through 
which God's people are passing in this 
present life. We are taught that our 
trials are appointed as the means of 
our purification, that as gold we must 
go through the furnace to be refined. 
Chastisement is represented as the evi- 
dence of God's love to us. The glory of 
immortality is to be evolved out of 
earthly suffering. We are assured that, 
being united to Christ and having suf- 
fered with Him, we shall share His 
glory ; that suffering having been need- 
ful to perfect the Captain of our salva- 
tion, it is even more necessary for us. 

The Book of Acts tells us how the 
Apostles suffered. They were impris- 
oned and tortured for Christ's sake. 
Tacitus speaks of "a great multitude" 
who sealed their faith in Jesus with 
their blood. Speaking of the long-con- 
tinued and cruel persecutions the 

12 



The Gift of Suffering. 

Christians suffered in the first three 
hundred years of our era, Dr. Schaff 
says: "To these protracted and cruel 
persecutions the Church opposed no rev- 
olutionary violence, no carnal resist- 
ance, but the moral heroism of suffering 
and dying for the truth. This heroism 
was her fairest ornament and staunch- 
est weapon. In this very heroism she 
proved herself worthy of her Divine 
founder, who submitted to the death of 
the cross for the salvation of the world." 

Suffering is a mystery. Jesus, we 
are told, was made "perfect through 
suffering." Not morally perfect, for 
He was always holy, but as a sacrifice 
offered in accordance with the require- 
ments of the Jewish law. He needed to 
be made legally or officially "perfect" 
by shedding His own blood, for "with- 
out the shedding of blood is no remission 
of sin." 

But we need to be made morally holy, 

13 



The Gift of Suffering. 

as well as legally so. The legal holiness 
is the gift of Jesus to every soul that 
asks for it in His name. The moral, 
actual holiness is wrought in us by the 
Holy Spirit using the discipline and suf- 
ferings of this earthly life. 

"Let us be patient! These severe afflictions 

Not from the ground arise; 
But oftentimes celestial benedictions 

Assume this dark disguise." 

Gerald Massey wrote: 

"God's ichor fills the hearts that bleed, 
The best fruit loads the broken bough, 
And in the wounds our sufferings plough, 
Immortal love sows sovereign seed." 

Nowhere are we taught in Scripture 
that suffering is, of necessity, a sign of 
God's disfavor and that there is any- 
thing ignoble in it. On the other hand, 
it is often presented to our view as a 
means to an end, as being an agent by 
which character is developed and built 

up. Just as the child learns to walk by 

u 



The Gift of Suffering. 

stumbling and falling and sometimes 
bruising himself, so we learn our best 
lessons of life through untoward condi- 
tions. Not until all human plans are 
made abortive and all expectations are 
blighted will some of us learn the les- 
sons of contentment and happiness. And 
not until after severe heartache do we 
realize that all suffering is not only 
under the eye, but in the hands of the 
Great Sufferer whose heart is warm 
with infinite sympathy and love, be- 
cause He knows from deep experience 
what it is. 

Turning from the teachings of Scrip- 
ture and the history of the early Church 
to Christian experience, there is much 
to confirm the truth that pain is work- 
ing toward an end that is good. The 
whole view of life is not given us. We 
see it only in sections. But there are 
moments when, by a strange intuition, 
we are made conscious of the good that 

15 



The Gift of Suffering. 

may be evolved out of human suffering. 
As we are passing through some great 
sorrow, we ever and anon catch 
glimpses of the coming good. We are 
made to feel through heartache that we 
are brought into touch with new forces 
in the spiritual realm. In the hour of 
trial, God's presence becomes more real 
and prayer is invested with a new pow- 
er. His promises are invested with 
strange comfort. The evil in the heart 
is subdued when bitter anguish fills the 
soul. We are weaned, by pain, from de- 
basing things, and there is created in- 
stead a zest for heavenly possessions. 
Deep grief means greater consecration 
to God. The irascible temper is softened 
and character is improved and elevated 
under the influence of suffering. It 
is a remarkable fact that the finest, 
sweetest and strongest lives have 
emerged from the severest trials of hu- 
man existence. Man's nature expands 

16 



The Gift of Suffering. 

under sorrow. The unseen, hidden plan 
of life is at no time so brought to con- 
sciousness as when acute suffering is 
being endured. The secret of life seems 
partially revealed when the heart aches. 
These partial but yet dim solutions of 
the problem of pain confirm our faith 
that all will end as God has promised, 
in a flood of eternal glory. 

It is important to consider the spirit 
in which suffering should be borne. The 
Apostles rejoiced that they were count- 
ed worthy to suffer for Jesus' name. 
Paul and Silas sang praises in the Phil- 
ippian prison at midnight. When St. 
Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, 
where, he declared to the Ephesians, 
great trials awaited him, he said: 
"None of these things move me, neither 
count I my life dear unto myself, so that 
I might finish my course with joy." The 
love of Christ constrained him. A tor- 
rent of affection for Jesus bore him on 

17 



The Gift of Suffering. 

and swept him irresistibly into the 
whirlpool of persecution. 

Dr. Schaff again says: "It is not so 
much the amount of suffering which 
challenges our admiration, although it 
was terrible enough, as the spirit with 
which the early Christians bore it. Men 
and women of all classes, noble senators 
and learned bishops, illiterate artisans 
and poor slaves, loving mothers and del- 
icate virgins, hoary-headed pastors and 
innocent children approached their tor- 
tures in no temper of unfeeling indif- 
ference and obstinate defiance, but, like 
their divine Master, with calm self- 
possession, humble resignation, cheer- 
ful faith and triumphant hope." 

The martyrs of every age and nation 
have looked forward joyfully and trust- 
fully to that glad and everlasting as- 
semblage of the redeemed who "have 
come out of great tribulation, and have 

18 



The Gift of Suffering. 

washed their robes and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb." 

Suffering of what sort it may be, if 
borne heroically for Christ's sake will 
be followed by the greatest benefits. The 
blood of the martyrs was the seed of the 
Church, and suffering is the basis of 
solid character and endless felicity to 
God's true people. Jesus said: "Ex- 
cept a corn of wheat fall into the ground 
and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it 
bringeth forth much fruit." Out of 
death, life; out of suffering and loss, 
obedience, holiness and happiness; out 
of pain, eternal gain. 

Those who are God's dear children 
should increasingly realize that there is 
a relationship between suffering and 
glory, tribulation and triumph, cross 
and crown, as intimate as that between 
cause and effect, seed and fruit. The 
goodness of God has transformed the 
effect of sin and suffering into joy. 

19 



1$ God in Our Lives? 

CHERE are many who declare 
their belief in the existence of a 
Supreme First Cause, but who 
yet assert that God can have little, if 
anything, to do with the common every- 
day events and ordinary affairs of the 
life we are now living. They are ready 
to admit that the great God has given us 
being here on the earth, leaving, how- 
ever, the development of our career and 
character to chance. 

It need not be remarked that there is 
afforded no stimulus to noble effort nor 
supporting power in the hour of trial 
in such a creed. To look upon life as 
dependent upon a blind whirl of dice, 
means dismal confusion and horrid de- 
spair. Such a view begets the worst 
form of pessimism, and is the fit ad- 
junct of suicide. 



Is God in Our Lives? 

That there is much in human life that 
is mysterious and perplexing, that there 
are many conflicting and confusing ele- 
ments which cannot be easily harmon- 
ized, and that there are difficult prob- 
lems that human reason cannot solve, 
must be admitted. There are puzzling 
inequalities with which we must deal. 
We are compelled to see noble and 
worthy people, from the beginning to 
the end of their existence, oppressed 
and kept back, beaten down by unto- 
ward events and occurrences, over 
which they have no control and with 
which they have had nothing to do in 
bringing about; while some others 
who are worthless creatures are pros- 
pered in all their ways; fortunate 
things seem to come their way, bless- 
ings unsought drop into their laps. Bad 
men rise to thrones and good men are 
forced to the wall. Tyrants dwell in 
palaces and heroes starve in prisons. 

21 



The Gift of Suffering. 

Vice wears the purple and virtue is clad 
in rags. Guilt pampers itself on the 
spoils of robbery, while integrity is ma- 
ligned and honesty is trampled down 
and left bleeding in the streets. 

When we behold these things and 
many others equally puzzling, we are 
tempted to think that the Almighty Cre- 
ator and Preserver has abdicated His 
throne and has left us to take care of 
ourselves as best we can. When events 
occur which we can neither forecast nor 
control, bringing us trials far beyond 
our strength to endure, is it any wonder 
that we should be mystified and made 
to question whether we are not, as 
Thackeray asserts, "the creatures of 
circumstances, and the playthings of 
destiny," having little or no part to do 
in unfolding our life history? 

And yet, upon further observation 
and more careful thought of the events 
of human life, we cannot shut out the 

22 



Is God in Our Lives? 

conviction, impressed upon our minds 

by a thousand evidences, that all is not 

change and chance in this world in 

which we are living and moving. As 

we reflect more deeply and allow our 

minds to take in a wider survey, there 

comes to vivid consciousness the 

thought that 

"There is a Divinity that shapes our ends, 
Rough hew them as we will ;" 

an intelligent Divinity that we can 
trust, rather than a blind chance or 
soulless fate. We feel that, amid much 
that seems broken, disjointed and in- 
soluble, there is yet beneath and over 
all an order and system, a current, a 
drift of events and occurrences toward 
a definite and benevolent purpose. We 
cannot but feel that there is a system, 
founded on principles which are as fixed 
as the incidents of human life are 
fluctuating; a system which overrules 
every event that may happen, however 

23 



The Gift of Suffering. 

casual, to a great and lofty end ; a sys- 
tem only obscure because of its tran- 
scendent grandeur; a system which 
gives stability to what would otherwise 
be considered uncertain and that im- 
parts regularity and order to what 
might otherwise appear to be a world 
not only of change, but of chance. One 
cannot watch the movements of nations 
without feeling that great ideas and 
purposes are being evolved out of hu- 
man events. 

We notice, too, how circumstances 
too trivial to be noticed at the time 
and of apparently no meaning, give the 
first impulse which sends us onward to 
a most important place or to a most de- 
sirable association of life, very different 
from what we may ever have contem- 
plated. There is, we feel, a directing 
force, a current, running through the 
events of ordinary daily existence, 
which sweeps in its resistless eddy the 

24 



Is God in Our Lives? 

whole of one's life, from its dawn to its 
setting, to a predetermined purpose. In 
other words, we discover, as we closely 
scan, a life-plan, a co-operation of 
events that cannot but emanate from a 
mind of the highest intelligence. As 
we contemplate how one event prepares 
the way for some other event, and how 
history enfolds great purposes in na- 
tions and individuals, we feel increas- 
ingly that nothing really casual occurs. 
Details of human life that for a season 
seem to be disconnected and segregated, 
as time passes are discovered to fuse 
and blend. The breaks that we surmised 
largely disappear as the results come 
into sight. 

Of course, we cannot get entirely 
clear of the mystery that ever environs 
human life, but we can see enough to 
discover that beneath and behind and 
beside everything there is a plan and 
purpose. We can see some light glim- 

25 



The Gift of Suffering. 

mering through the surrounding dark- 
ness. We can sometimes feel the touch 
of the guiding hand and hear the voice 
of the great Jehovah. 

We are apt to begin at the wrong end 
and to think that we need to have things 
explained to us prior to or during the 
occurrence of the events of life. We 
are inclined to think that there can be 
no comfort for us, unless we see in ad- 
vance the reason and plan in connection 
with our afflictions. This is not the 
method of the Christian religion. "We 
walk by faith." We must reach the top 
of the mountain before we can look upon 
the valley through which we have 
passed. There are many things we 
cannot anticipate. 

"I do not ask to see 

The distant scene : one step enough for me." 

We must make experience of life's 
trials before we can understand them. 
The later view which we take of them 

26 



Is God in Our Lives? 

causes us often to change our reflec- 
tions. There have been occurrences in 
almost every one's career which have 
turned out a thousandfold more advan- 
tageous than ever we expected. How 
some apparently unpropitious happen- 
ing has turned out to our almost infin- 
ite advantage! To judge affliction at 
the time of its occurrence is to misjudge 
it. Looking back, we can see how the 
trial bore in its hand a triumph, how 
the loss that seemed so severe carried in 
its bosom a greater kind of riches, and 
how the pruner's cruel knife, that left 
the branches bleeding, made possible the 
finer fruitage in the autumn. "No 
chastening for the present seemeth joy- 
ous, but grievous; nevertheless after- 
wards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of 
righteousness to them who are exer- 
cised thereby." Robert Louis Stevenson, 
who suffered much from sickness and 
weakness, wrote in one of his letters 

27 



The Gift of Suffering. 

these words: 'That which we suffer 
ourselves has no longer the same air of 
monstrous injustice and wanton cruelty 
that suffering wears when we see it in 
the case of others. So we begin grad- 
ually to see that things are not black, 
but have their strange compensations." 
It becomes us also to bear in mind 
that many of the ills that come into our 
lives are of our own making, though 
later they may be overruled for our im- 
provement. Sin is the fertile mother of 
much of life's misery. We reap what 
our hands sow. We furnish by our evil 
acts the scorpions with which we are 
later scourged. These self-made afflic- 
tions may, however, under the wise and 
loving governance of God, be turned 
to great advantage. The want that 
pinched the prodigal in the distant land 
of sin made him think of home and a 
father's love, and caused him to change 
his whole course. 

28 



Is God in Our Lives? 

The Bible, the Book of God, in no way 
disputing or disparaging our estate of 
suffering, teaches that there is running 
through the strange and untoward 
events of life a purpose of good to those 
who walk in the ways of righteousness. 
It subordinates and makes tributary ev- 
erything to a great and beneficent end. 
It educes and evolves from acknowl- 
edged evil the most substantial and 
eternal good. It makes sin the occasion 
of a bright display of infinite love — the 
dark, umbrageous background upon 
which to span the many-hued bow of 
God's limitless goodness. It converts 
the very afflictions, which are the fruits 
of sin, into the means of progressive 
sanctification and eternal blessedness. 

With all the unattractive and afflic- 
tive features that attend human life, the 
Bible presents to us the great Son of 
God as coming down to our lapsed earth 
to take upon Himself man's nature, 

29 



The Gift of Suffering. 

with all its pain and trials. He came to 
suffer, so that through suffering He 
might subserve the highest purposes of 
heaven and earth. He made pain and 
sorrow the dominant elements of His 
life on earth, and as "the Captain of 
our salvation" was "made perfect 
through suffering." His great mission 
was to be accomplished through the tre- 
mendous suffering that He would en- 
dure while in the flesh. Out of His ag- 
ony there was to be evolved the greatest 
benefits to humanity. His strange and 
wonderful humiliation, and His excru- 
ciating passion, were to be followed by 
the sublimest elevation in rank and 
glory. In other words, the most mar- 
velous results were to emerge from His 
sufferings in the flesh. 

As with the Master, so with each of 
His followers. Triumph is evolved out 
of trial, pearls find their origin in tears, 
and bright crowns in the heavy crosses 

30 



Is God in Our Lives? 

of life. God's love is working in our 
lives and turning the adverse things of 
our existence to our eternal advantage. 
The cross of Christ is the key to un- 
lock the door to the unknown. When 
we are tempted to think that our life is 
a game of chance and that there is fall- 
ing to our lot more than our share of 
affliction, we are reminded that as our 
Lord suffered, so must we suffer, and 
that as there came to Him after He had 
passed through His fiercest ordeals of 
suffering, a resplendent triumph, so 
there awaits us after our probation of 
discipline "a weight of glory" — yea, 
"pleasures for evermore at God's right 
hand." 

"The bud may have a bitter taste, 
But sweet will be the flower." 



31 



Divine Concealments. 

CHERE are many things that God 
conceals from us. Of this, how- 
ever, we can be assured, that 
what He withholds from our knowledge 
is not intended to be a barrier between 
Him and our hearts, or to alienate us 
from, but, rather, attach us the more 
closely to Him. What He has revealed 
to us and what He has concealed from 
us, are alike designed to evince His wis- 
dom and love to us. 

We soon learn that mystery is the 
predominating feature of this life. It 
starts with God, who is a three-fold 
mystery of Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost. There is much hidden from our 
view in the One who is the Son of God 
and yet the Son of Mary. There are 
abysses of concealed wonder and glory 
in the atoning work which Christ has 

32 



Divine Concealments. 

wrought out for us upon the cross. In 
Providence God's methods and purposes 
are all hidden from our inspection. 
Mystery skirts every law that God has 
put into operation. The stars and suns 
that move so majestically in their orbits 
all call attention to laws and forces 
about which we know next to nothing. 
The unseen things in nature are the 
greatest things. The life which we are 
living is enveloped in mystery. We 
know not its plan. We cannot forecast 
the events of a single day. Life beyond 
the grave is even more enwrapt in 
silence and obscurity. The area of con- 
cealment has no limit. 

In all this concealment we see the 
greatness and superiority of the Great 
Being with whom we have to do. He is 
not only self -existent, but self-sufficient. 
He needs not the counsel or help of any 
other creature. Absolutely concealing 
His ways from all others, we see how 

33 



The Gift of Suffering. 

His high authority can never be trans- 
ferred to another. He is infinite and 
we are finite. In the grandeur of 
His solitude and silence, He inspires 
our reverence and attracts our faith to 
Him. 

The fact that there is so much veiled 
and hidden from us in God's nature and 
in His dealings with us causes the con- 
templation of Him ever to be invested 
with inexhaustible interest and novelty. 
Thought of Him can never become 
monotonous. He is always a fountain 
of wonder, from which there flows to us 
an eternal succession of blessed sur- 
prises. The happiness of children arises 
largely from the novelty of things as 
they are revealed to them. When once 
they have learned everything, their 
sense of pleasure dulls and becomes 
sated. God, being incapable of exhaus- 
tion, because His nature is infinite and 
His works are illimitable, can never be- 

34 



Divine Concealments. 

come a dull and stale subject for the 
meditation of His people. The life of 
His trusting children can never become 
empty and barren. 

Scientists are showing signs of rest- 
lessness. So many discoveries and 
inventions have been made, and so 
many problems have been, as they 
think, solved, they imagine that there is 
little concealed from their investiga- 
tions. The great cities of the past ages 
have been dug up. Herculaneum and 
Pompeii have revealed their secrets. 
The Egyptian hieroglyphics have been 
deciphered. The sources of the Nile 
have been found. The wonders of 
equatorial Africa have been penetrated. 
Electricity has been harnessed and 
divested of much of its mystery. And 
when the secrets of the North and South 
Poles have been made known, it would 
seem as if the last page in the book of 
nature had been turned. 

35 



The Gift of Suffering. 

But it is not so with God. His being, 
person, attributes and reign, being in- 
finite and illimitable, He will never and 
can never empty Himself of His glory. 
Each moment of eternity will but unveil 
some new beauty in the Godhead. No 
intelligence will ever reach the point of 
knowing all that He knows. His re- 
deemed people will be forever drawn 
on to new wonders and fascinated and 
delighted with fresh revelations of His 
beauty and benignity. Everlasting 
novelty, endless interest, are in store 
for them. 

But it becomes us to consider some 
of the advantages which accrue to us 
in this life from the fact that God con- 
ceals so much from our knowledge. We 
cannot estimate how faith, resignation 
and child-like obedience are developed 
through the inscrutable, hidden things 
of life. Revelation and concealment are 
wisely alternated. What God has re- 

36 



Divine Concealments. 

vealed first creates and stimulates our 
faith, and then what God conceals and 
withholds tests and exercises that faith, 
and braces up and strengthens our trust 
in Him. When our faith can stand the 
strain put upon it through the mysteri- 
ous dealings of Providence, it comes out 
all the stronger and God is all the more 
glorified. The problems of life which 
God leaves unexplained cause us to 
come into a closer touch with Him, so 
that, walking by faith and not by sight, 
the spiritual side of our nature is 
brought into exercise and is developed. 
Then, too, how much anguish we are 
spared by God kindly and gently hiding 
from us the sad events that are to come 
into our lives. There are sorrows 
which, if in advance we knew of their 
coming, and when and how they would 
break upon us, the anticipation would 
crush us. The burden would be greater 
than our tender and inexperienced 
hearts could bear. 

37 



The Gift of Suffering. 

The loving and tender parent hides 
many a thing from his child, especially 
if it be sensitive and easily agitated. 
God, as a merciful and compassionate 
Father, who knows that a glimpse of 
life as it will be would overwhelm us, 
conceals from us all coming events. An 
impenetrable curtain hangs between us 
and the future, so that we know not 
what even a day may bring forth. 

The event of death, as it concerns us 
each personally, and as it is related to 
those whom we love and who make life 
so pleasant to us, is enshrouded in con- 
cealment. Death itself, certain as it is 
as an event, is so veiled that we scarcely 
realize that it is a fact related to us 
personally. We cannot appreciate its 
coming until it has made its sad advent. 
We know that we must each and all 
make an exodus from earth, but how 
and when and where is all hidden from 
us. We know not who will be the first 

38 



Divine Concealments. 

to go and who will survive. Life would 
be a thousand fold sadder than it is, 
were the curtain lifted, so that at a 
glance we could see all that is in store 
for us. To save our hearts from being 
overwhelmed with anguish, our Father 
above has lovingly, kindly and wisely 
hidden the future from our view. 

Then in another way He has dealt 
tenderly and gently with us, in conceal- 
ing from us the estate and condition of 
the sainted dead. How we would like to 
know more than we do about our 
precious ones who have exchanged 
earthly toil for heavenly glory! How 
a holy curiosity creates the wish to 
know what are their employments and 
enjoyments! How we often wish that 
the gates might be ajar for a moment, 
that we might catch a glimpse of the 
splendors of the golden city. 

But God hides it all from us. We 
have sweet and blessed assurances that 

39 



The Gift of Suffering. 

our departed ones have entered into a 
happy and glorious estate. We are 
clearly told that they have been trans- 
ferred into another and better home, 
where there will be no night and no 
tears. And then all else is concealed. If 
more were told us, it would only confuse 
our minds and disturb our hearts. 
Faith would weaken and we would wish 
to walk entirely by sight. Heaven would 
not be heaven, if we could describe it in 
the language of earthly experience. It 
is heaven because it is beyond the reach 
of present thought. 

If we knew more than we do about 
the heavenly life and the condition of 
our loved ones, we would be all the more 
unsettled and unhappy. If the golden 
streets were made visible, if we could 
at times see the shining ones with 
crowns upon their heads and harps in 
their hands, as they gather before the 
throne of glory, instead of being braced 

40 



Divine Concealments. 

up and comforted by such a vision, we 
would be utterly unfitted to live and 
incapacitated for life's duties. We 
would be unwilling longer to remain 
in this disappointing world. We would 
feel ourselves to be exiles. All the 
purposes of this life would be frus- 
trated. The longing to be with our 
friends in heaven would be so intense 
and absorbing that we would seek death 
as a means of being reunited to them. 
We would be tempted to self-murder. 

"Ah, if beyond the spirit's cavil, 
Aught of that country could we surely know, 
Who would not go?" 

Thus we see how revelation and con- 
cealment are equally needful and alike 
wisely ordered by our loving God, who 
throughout the vast cycles of eternity 
will increasingly and unceasingly un- 
fold to us the glory of His person and 
the blessed significance of all that has 
entered into our life here on earth, 

41 



Insoluble Problems of Life. 

CHERE are some people who vex 
their minds and waste their 
time over the insoluble problems 
which have never been answered, and 
which God has intended shall never be 
solved until this brief life has ended. 
The persons who are most apt to ask 
the most puzzling questions are not 
always the deepest thinkers. Why ask 
a question which cannot be answered, 
and which was not intended to be solved 
in this life? To ask an unanswerable 
question does not evince depth of 
thought. 

And yet let it be understood that the 
inquiry after knowledge, the asking of 
proper questions, and the expectation 
of their satisfactory answer, is not 
under all circumstances to be censured. 
Life itself is a study that suggests 
many inquiries. There are problems 

42 



Insoluble Problems of Life. 

that come into our lives that are to be 
worked out. If we are serious and not 
simply curious, we will, as time ad- 
vances, and as subsequent events occur, 
get new clues and hints as to the an- 
swer of one or another of our great life- 
inquiries. 

Children are constantly putting 
questions, to which they will often re- 
ceive from the intelligent parent an 
answer something like this: "Your 
question cannot be answered just now; 
the materials which supply the answer 
are not yet within the scope of your 
vision. The answer given you now you 
would not understand — it would only 
confuse what you now know. When 
you are ten years older it will be told 
you, if need be. Then you will quite 
likely know, however, without being 
told. You will, as you go on in life, find 
the answer for yourself of your many 
now puzzling questions." 

43 



The Gift of Suffering. 

Just so in the domain of religion. God 
may or not answer our thoughtful ques- 
tions about the methods of His govern- 
ment as the same are related to our 
personal lives, and to the events, sad or 
glad, that enter them. He does not for- 
bid us to enquire, provided a curious, 
petulant and disobedient spirit be 
absent. If we take our proper attitude 
as dependent creatures, humbled under 
a sense of our sinfulness and unworthi- 
ness, there will spiritually be much re- 
vealed to us. It is, therefore, the spirit 
in which the questions are asked that 
makes the inquiry good or bad, pleasing 
or displeasing, to our heavenly Father. 

There are great questions which we 
cannot avoid asking, such as, What are 
we? From whence did we come? 
Whither are we going? For what pur- 
pose did God create us? What is our 
chief end? Why are we encompassed 
with so much that tries and saddens us? 

44 



Insoluble Problems of Life. 

Why do we have to suffer pain? Why 
do we have to contend with vice and 
sin? 

These, among many others, are seri- 
ous and difficult questions. Now, inas- 
much as these questions touch and in- 
volve the whole scheme of the Divine 
government, we must ask them in no 
faultfinding, curious or defiant spirit. 
We must remember that we are finite 
creatures, while we are inquiring into 
the methods of One who is infinite in 
wisdom. Deep reverence, contrition, 
submission and trust ought to fill our 
spirits, when we presume to canvass 
the administration of God's government 
of the world. 

As we take our proper place, accept- 
ing the will and leading of God, 
whether or not we understand His ways 
and purposes, we will enter into a state 
of mental rest and will be made 
susceptible to spiritual instruction. 

45 



The Gift of Suffering. 

As we regard God's will supreme, 
controlled by the deepest wisdom and 
tenderest love, and recognize it as 
directing all things in our personal lives 
toward the highest and best purposes, 
we will not only be in sweet harmony 
with the mind of God, but we will be in 
the attitude to receive the more satis- 
factory answers to our inquiries. 

It is well at the outset to understand 
what we can and what we cannot hope 
to accomplish by our investigations. We 
certainly cannot hope to solve what the 
ages past have not been able to solve. 
It is folly to attempt to explain the mys- 
tery of the origin and continuance of 
moral evil and physical suffering, since 
utter failure has always attended every 
attempt of the human intellect to un- 
ravel these dark problems. The human 
mind, having no ability to solve them, 
it is best to let reason go and then turn 

46 



Insoluble Problems of Life. 

to the comfort that may be found in 
faith. 

The prompt recognition of the fact 
that suffering is and was intended to be 
a factor in developing and improving 
human character is at once an adjust- 
ment to the condition in which we find 
ourselves. Acceptance of our trials and 
ready acquiescence with whatever the 
all-wise and all-loving One metes out to 
us, not only adapts us to our place in 
life, but removes largely suspense which 
is always trying. To know the worst 
is the first step toward knowing the 
best. So, then, if instead of harassing 
our minds about the origin of evil and 
the purpose of suffering, we accept each 
as most important, necessary and 
beneficent ingredients of life, we have 
made an unspeakable gain. 

When we cease struggling with in- 
soluble problems, we can address our- 
selves to the work of making the best 

47 



The Gift of Suffering. 

out of life, and if possible, of turning 
what we call evil into some advantage 
to us. We can then turn from the past, 
with its painful memories, and from 
the present, with its trying circum- 
stances, to a future which, if we view 
it rightly in the light of God's revela- 
tion, holds in its possession the brightest 
and most inspiring hopes. 

The history of human experience 
teaches that no man has ever brought 
light, peace, comfort and holiness into 
his life by attempting to solve the in- 
soluble problem of the origin and con- 
tinuance of moral evil and physical 
suffering. 

On the other hand, there is brought 
to view not only a multitude which no 
man can number, crowned and white- 
robed and superlatively happy, before 
the throne of heaven, who have reached 
their blessed estate by the passage 
through great tribulation, but there are 

48 



Insoluble Problems of Life. 

to be seen on every side of us here on 
earth those who, in the midst of untold 
trials and bitterest sorrows, have had 
strength and fortitude imparted to 
their minds, and sweet peace and deep 
joy distilled into their hearts by a sim- 
ple trust that all the events of life, sad 
and glad, were alike ordered in God's 
wisdom and love. The experiment of 
ceasing to strive and of yielding to the 
will of God, and of obediently learning 
the lessons which the trials and sorrows 
He appoints are intended to teach, has 
brought to thousands of despondent and 
distressed souls the rich revenues of 
comfort and blessing. Whosoever has 
earnestly set himself to do all the will 
of God } has graciously been led to know 
of the doctrine that it was from God. 

It is ours simply to accept, to believe, 
to obey and to trust, asking no ques- 
tions, assured that what we know not 
now, we shall know and understand 

49 



The Gift of Suffering. 

hereafter, and also be assured that for 
reasons the wisest and best, God retains 
in His own keeping the solution of the 
great mysteries of our earthly life. 

The time is not far off when the great 
secrets of life will be made known to us. 
Our exodus from the flesh will bring 
new accessions of knowledge. Many of 
the painfully inscrutable things of life 
will then be explained, as we enter upon 
that estate which will be a progressive 
unfolding of God's love and glory. 

"Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling 
gloom, 

Lead Thou me on; 
The night is dark, and I am far from home, 

Lead Thou me on. 
Keep Thou my feet, I do not ask to see 
The distant scene ; one step's enough for me." 



50 



Affliction. 

CHERE are moments when we 
wonder why our God, who is so 
good and kind and loving to all 
His creatures, should ever permit trials 
and difficulties to come into the life of 
His people. It is then that we over- 
look the fact that these are a part of 
our discipline, and but for them neither 
would our characters develop nor our 
faith and trust in God be brought into 
vigorous exercise. 

We dissipate clouds from our skies 
and promote serenity in our minds, if, 
sooner rather than later, we accept the 
fact that the afflictions that come into 
our lives are the designedly chosen 
means by which we are brought into 
living and loving touch with our good 
and gracious God. 

51 



The Gift of Suffering. 

How the fretting and carking cares 
that fall to our lot cause us to realize 
our true spiritual condition and real 
needs! How these reveal to us the de- 
fects in our characters! How they 
humble us in the dust and cause us to 
see ourselves aright, or at least meas- 
urably as God sees us ! How by Divine 
chastening we are made to see the ter- 
rible wages of sin and wrong-doing ! 

Were the trials of life not to visit us, 
we would remain ignorant of our sin- 
fulness and unworthiness in God's holy 
sight. Were we permitted to remain 
at ease, to drift along with nothing to 
cross or disturb us, we would become 
satisfied with our present condition 
and would have no aspiration for any- 
thing better and nobler in life. 

Trials, difficulties and even suffering 
must come to stir us up and start us 
out in that bright path that leads to 
the heavenly land. Vessels meet for 

52 



Affliction. 

the Master's use are not made without 
rough handling on the potter's wheel, 
and without severe burning in the kiln 
of adversity. The best and most beau- 
tiful characters the world has ever seen 
were men and women who were spe- 
cially afflicted. 

Our heavenly Father designed that 
we should feel the afflictions through 
which we pass. Anciently, there was a 
sect of philosophers who believed and 
taught that all things were fixed by 
fate, and that without resistance there 
should be submission to whatever came 
into life, and that as far as possible 
the passions and feelings should be re- 
pressed, ignored and deadened, and 
that happiness consisted in insensibil- 
ity to pain. They contended that there 
should be no rejoicing over any good 
or mourning over any evil. 

The degree of indifference to which 
the disciples of Zeno attained was won- 

53 



The Gift of Suffering. 

derful. The loss of their children by 
death they could regard as no greater 
than the loss of their cattle. 

But God never intended that we 
should be such stoics. Christianity 
does not make us less, but more, sensi- 
tive to pain. It does not take from 
us natural feeling. It does not make 
us less men. It rather elevates us, 
making our capacity for suffering more 
exquisite and refined. 

We have hearts that can break and 
bleed, like the Saviour, who gave ex- 
pression in tears and sighs to human 
anguish. As His followers, we were 
never intended to be made callous to 
the painful experiences of life. 

Though many deeply felt afflictions 
may come to us, we have need to learn 
that each is an ordained channel 
through which may flow into our hearts 
the infinite and tender love of God. 
Coming from His hand, they are sent 

54 



Affliction. 

to us to make us wiser and better and 
to prepare us for higher spheres of use- 
fulness here and for greater degrees of 
bliss in heaven. 

God allows us to be sorely wounded, 
that we may come under the tender 
touch of His healing hand. He permits 
us to bear for a season very heavy bur- 
dens, that in our extremity there may 
be afforded Him the opportunity of 
coming to our relief, so that His mighty 
shoulders may carry the load that op- 
presses us. 

It is well to have deeply impressed 
upon our minds and hearts that chas- 
tisement is heaven-sent. It does not 
arise from the dust. It is not a result 
of chance. It is measured out to us 
"for our profit, that we might be par- 
takers of His holiness," Hebrews 
xii: 10. 

Sickness, the loss of property, the un- 
fortunate transactions in business, the 

55 



The Gift of Suffering. 

disappointments and difficulties that 
fall athwart our pathway, the mistaken 
alliances and peculiar social relations 
that we form, the cares and worries 
connected with our life-work, the 
strange experiences arising out of our 
church fellowship, the persecution, 
hate, malignity, jealousy, misunder- 
standing and ingratitude and what not, 
that come into our experience, if we be 
followers of Christ, are all alike ap- 
pointed to us in wisdom and love for the 
development of our present and eternal 
weal. 

This view of life puts us in constant 
touch with our Father in heaven. This 
recognition of God in all our cares and 
troubles makes prayer a continual 
duty and delight. To feel that God is 
related to us in every occurrence and 
detail of life, that He is ordering all 
things for our good when we trust in 
His love, how the impulse is stimulated 

56 



Affliction. 

to hold communion with Him and take 
everything to Him in prayer ! 

By nature we are inclined to think 
that the petty trials and numberless 
perplexities which mark our daily 
career are too insignificant for our God 
to notice or for us to mention in the 
solemn words of prayer. But when we 
reflect that He is ever mindful of us, 
that He is never for an instant an indif- 
ferent spectator of our trials, but ap- 
points them to accomplish our highest 
good, as well as His own glory, how we 
will ever desire to confer with and con- 
sult Him about every act and turn in 
our lives ! How we will crave His guid- 
ance and grace in all that we think, say 
and do ! How we will always feel that 
anything that annoys us, that disturbs 
our peace of mind, that shortens our 
hours of sleep, that burdens our hearts, 
causing anxiety and foreboding, we can 
carry to Him in prayer, assured of His 

57 



The Gift of Suffering. 

deep and loving sympathy and blessed 
help ! 

When we refrain from approaching 
our God and Father with the smaller 
troubles or so-called petty cares of life, 
we debar ourselves from the Divine aid 
and comfort which it is our privilege to 
possess and enjoy. We put ourselves in 
the unhappy position of being com- 
pelled to bear all alone our burdens, 
with no shoulders to aid us in carrying 
them. 

We sometimes see some of the 
Lord's people who seem worn out and 
broken down by the wear and tear of 
carking cares, simply because they do 
not cast their burden upon the Lord, 
who will sustain them. They strangely 
refuse to allow their burdens to pass 
from themselves upon the strong shoul- 
ders of the Almighty One. 

The writer jpnce saw a poor woman 
sitting in the rear end of a railroad car, 

58 



Affliction. 

with two bundles upon her knees. The 
conductor kindly suggested that she 
place them on the unoccupied seat be- 
side her or upon the floor at her feet. 
But she refused, persisting for a dis- 
tance of more than fifty miles in thus 
carrying her load, when provision was 
offered for relieving her. 

Thus it is with, alas, too many pro- 
fessing Christians. They have God's 
ticket to heaven, and have put them- 
selves in the strong and sure train, yet 
persist, oh, so foolishly, in bearing their 
own baggage upon their weak and 
weary shoulders, when God has made 
plenteous provision for the carriage of 
all their ills and trials. 



59 



The Benefits of Affliction. 

CHE Hebrew Psalmist gives us a 
bit of his experience when he 
tells us that when things went 
according to his liking and planning, 
he strayed into wrong ways ; but when 
sore trials and losses came into his 
pathway, he was made mindful of God 
and was thereby led to lean upon and 
keep His word. (Psalm cxix: 67.) He 
means to tell us that if he had not 
smarted under the rod of affliction, he 
never would have confessed and ceased 
his wanderings from God, nor would 
he have experienced the comforts and 
keeping power of God's holy Word. 
David, therefore, bears testimony to the 
benefits of affliction. Shakespeare says, 
"Sweet are the uses of adversity." 
Scripture and reason alike teach that 

60 



The Benefits of Affliction. 

the trials and troubles of life counteract 
the tendency of the heart to wander 
from its God and also to perfect holi- 
ness in life. 

General good results from the afflic- 
tions that are visited upon men. The 
suffering and distress that come upon 
the race, prevent, to a larger extent 
than we can estimate, the crime and sin 
of the world. If affliction were not 
constantly interposing in some form or 
other, the world would be far more 
openly profligate and much more vio- 
lence and disturbance would be preva- 
lent. The aggressiveness of sin is 
checked by the interference of affliction. 

It is a blessing to mankind that pov- 
erty treads so close and fast on the 
heels of sinful extravagance. Men are 
restrained in their vicious courses by 
want. They are prevented from doing 
all the evil their hearts propose, by the 
sufferings which their sinful conduct 

61 



The Gift of Suffering. 

brings upon them. There would be far 
more drunkenness, licentiousness and 
debauchery were men not halted by 
suffering. 

The prostrations of health, the bodily 
sickness, the loathsome diseases that at- 
tend a career of sin, are mighty break- 
waters against the strong tides of evil 
that would devastate the land. The 
misery and distress which the wicked 
spread around them would be fright- 
fully multiplied if they were not driven 
by illness into retirement, even as are 
wild beasts into their dens by the savage 
hunter. - 

Universal desolation would soon take 
possession of the world, sweeping off 
every vestige of good from its surface, 
were there not a retributive law at 
work, that brings chastisement to 
wrong-doers. Such a crisis once came 
to the race at the time of the deluge, 
when unbridled license in wrong-doing 

62 



The Benefits of Affliction. 

brought about the destruction of all hu- 
man flesh, excepting one family. 

This law of retribution not only ap- 
plies to mankind generally, but there 
is a disciplinary system under which 
God's people are subjects of affliction 
to counteract the evil in their nature 
and to perfect in them holy character. 
"Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, 
and scourgeth every son whom He re- 

ceiveth Now no chastening for 

the present seemeth to be joyous, but 
grievous: nevertheless afterward it 
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of right- 
eousness unto them which are exercised 
thereby," Hebrews xii: 6, 11. 

The Bible, from which many other 
passages bearing on the subject might 
be quoted, gives the only satisfactory 
solution of the origin and object of the 
Sufferings incidental to this life. It 
does not, like Stoicism or like modern 
(so-called) Christian Science, deny the 

63 



The Gift of Suffering. 

existence of human pain. It does not 
withdraw our attention from the sad 
and painful events which enter life. It 
does not represent the afflictions of 
earth as few and easily borne, but sets 
them before us in all their variety and 
magnitude. It in no way teaches in- 
difference to the ills, sorrows and trials 
that stir the heart's emotions. It teaches 
rather that man is born to trouble as 
the sparks fly upward, and that the af- 
flictions of life are proper and profitable 
subjects for contemplation, and that it 
is better to go into the house of mourn- 
ing than into the house of mirth and 
feasting. 

The Bible causes light to arise out of 
the deepest darkness. It reveals a sys- 
tem founded on principles that are as 
fixed as the incidents of life are fluctu- 
ating; a system which overrules all 
events, however casual, to a great and 
lofty end; a system incomprehensible, 

64 



The Benefits of Affliction. 

because so vast and varied; a system 
that imparts stability, regularity and 
order to what would otherwise be a 
world of change, chance and uncer- 
tainty. 

It reveals to us the necessity and suit- 
ableness of life's trials and afflictions, 
and how they are intelligently selected 
means to the best and grandest ends. It 
impresses upon the mind that it is ever 
the aim of God to evolve from acknowl- 
edged evil the most substantial good. 
From sin, the source of all misery, there 
is to be educed the marvellous manifes- 
tation of Divine love, the dark back- 
ground upon which the bow of God's 
covenant of mercy is to be forever em- 
blazoned. The trials and sufferings of 
life, which are the results of sin, under 
the merciful ordering of God are 
changed from being messengers of His 
displeasure into tokens of His paternal 
love. 

65 



The Gift of Suffering. 

The purpose of all chastisement in 
this life is corrective, to improve and 
purify character. It does not, however, 
follow that every one who is visited 
with affliction attains the high purpose 
God designed. Like every other means 
employed for the development of char- 
acter, the blessed effects of affliction de- 
pend upon the manner in which it is im- 
proved by the individual. Like the Gos- 
pel, which is either a savor of life unto 
life or of death unto death, as it is re- 
ceived, so affliction may be a blessing 
or a curse, as it is used. The same sun 
that melts the ice, hardens the clay. 
Affliction that softened David's heart 
and brought him nearer to God, hard- 
ened Pharaoh's heart and caused him 
to depart further from God. But the 
fact ever remains that the purpose of all 
trial and suffering is to subdue the 
heart and bring it into sweet harmony 
with God's will. 

66 



The Benefits of Affliction. 

Many are the benefits of affliction — 
to a few the writer desires to advert. 
First, it makes us realize our sinful con- 
dition. The affliction that came upon 
David made him see that he had gone 
astray. When Joseph's brethren were 
cast into prison, they bethought them- 
selves and recalled their iniquity 
against their brother. When want and 
hunger and desertion fell to the lot of 
the prodigal son, he "came to himself," 
and saw his true condition. There are 
thousands who cannot be made to see 
their real state before God, except as 
by trial and suffering they are awak- 
ened to a sense of their sinfulness. 

Affliction tests and proves the reality 
of religious experience and character. 
An ordinary sailor can steer the ship in 
a calm sea, when winds are fair and 
skies are clear, but it requires an ex- 
pert mariner to guide the vessel when 
the stars are hidden and the storm is on 

67 



The Gift of Suffering. 

the deep, with breakers and rocks hard 
by. It is the stormy and the dangerous 
sea that proves the skill of the captain. 

It is affliction that tests the excel- 
lence of our trust in God; it indicates 
whether or not our hopes are grounded 
on a deep experience of Christ's grace. 
The bitter and protracted suffering 
through which Job passed but solidified 
his character and made his trust so con- 
fident. It is not for him to repine whose 
affections have been effectually weaned 
from the infatuating joys of this dark, 
cold world. 

If there be any of us who are strug- 
gling with the reverses of fortune, or 
are groping alone on the by-paths of 
life; if health has forsaken us; if the 
springs and vigor of life are relaxing; 
if the days of usefulness are things of 
the past; if the beams of hope no longer 
play in the eye, but if with deepened 
trust in God and sweet reliance upon 

68 



The Benefits of Affliction. 

His promises, we can think of the higher 
revelations of glory in reserve, of the 
country where the inhabitant shall 
never say, "I am sick," and where per- 
petual youth shall be the portion of 
God's children, then may we rejoice 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 

Affliction deepens on the mind the 
reality of eternal things. When the 
stones were his pillow, the hard earth 
his bed, and the hedges his curtains, 
and when he was harassed with fears, 
then it was that God and heavenly 
things became so very real to Jacob. 
When the earthly foundations are 
shaken, and the sense of insecurity fills 
the soul, then man's extremity becomes 
God's opportunity of manifestation. 

There are thousands who never 
would have learned that this world is 
not their home, but for loss and sorrow. 
All the precepts of Christian literature 
and all the teachings of the pulpit, 

69 



The Gift of Suffering. 

would fail to impress this truth. But 
when hopes are wrecked and the heart 
is touched with deep sorrow, how a new 
realm of thought is revealed ! It is said 
that a grain of sand or some other for- 
eign substance getting entrance within 
the shell of the oyster, hurting its sensi- 
tive structure, with no power to expel 
the cause of pain, it envelops the dis- 
turbing substance in a secretion and 
moulds it into a sphere. When the oyster 
dies a perfectly-formed pearl of purest 
ray serene, lovely with the tints of the 
sky, is found ; a gem worth far beyond 
the pain that gave it existence. So God 
often allows elements of discomfort, un- 
rest and suffering to enter into the life 
of His people — a festering thorn in the 
flesh that cannot be extracted, making 
life one of perpetual pain. Borne 
meekly — patiently — character develops 
and advance in grace takes place, so 

that at last the pearl of purity is 

70 



The Benefits of Affliction. 

evolved, reflecting the beauty of heaven 
and the glory of Christ. 

The darkness of night is needful to 
enable us to see the stars; so affliction 
is necessary to make us appreciate and 
see the things of God. We see heaven 
most clearly through the tears that 
brim the eyes. When the heartstrings 
are stretched and under a severe ten- 
sion, they vibrate with heaven's sweet- 
est music. The sweetest and tenderest 
things that have been written or said 
came from those who suffered most. 
Our thoughts do not reach their highest 
development except through pain and 
heartache. 

The artist spends months of time and 
labor as he paints on the porcelain, but 
the flesh tints so natural and soft, the 
drapery so rich and well shaded, may 
be removed by one stroke of the hand, 
or if untouched, will yet fade and dis- 
appear. To make his work lasting and 
to give it permanent value, the porce- 

71 



The Gift of Suffering. 

lain must be put in the fire, it must be 
subjected to the searching heat of the 
furnace, where every color and tint will 
be burnt into the china, never to be 
blurred or faded. So to give perma- 
nence to character, the Divine Artist 
puts us into the furnace of affliction. 

The vine will bear nothing but leaves, 
it will not bear the delicious clusters of 
purple grapes, except it be cut and 
pruned. The maple of the west will not 
send out its currents of sugar, unless 
deep incisions are made in the tree. The 
sweet shrub of the south will not emit 
its fragrance except it be crushed and 
bruised. So in human life ; affliction is 
needful to bring out what is noble and 
best in character. As the bees gather 
honey from thistle flowers, so it is in 
our power to extract good from evil, joy 
from sorrow, and pleasure from pain, 

for 

"Crosses from God's sovereign hands 

Are blessings in disguise." 

72 



Increasing Trouble. 

IT is the blessed plan and purpose of 
our God and Saviour that, amid 
the cares and trials of life, His be- 
lieving people should be kept in a state 
of ease. They are encouraged to cast 
all their cares upon Him and to take no 
anxious thought about the morrow. To 
lessen the burden of trouble and to at- 
tain His own gracious purposes in our 
lives, He has made for us abundant pro- 
visions of comfort and strength. More 
could not have been done than He has 
done to sustain and uphold us and to 
bring us in safety to the end of our ca- 
reer, so that at the last we may inherit 
everlasting rest and glory at His right 
hand. 

And yet it is left to each of His peo- 
ple whether or not His purposes of love 

73 



The Gift of Suffering. 

shall be fulfilled in their daily life. If 
we turn our minds away from Him and 
from His loving care to us, we debar 
ourselves from the help and grace that 
He has provided for us. If we cultivate 
the habit of considering unduly our 
trials and cares, we will soon discover 
that sombre thoughts will cast a shadow 
upon the mercies and favors which His 
loving hand daily bestows upon us. 

If we attempt by our own reasoning 
and planning to remove every cause of 
annoyance and embarrassment that 
comes into our way, we will make for 
ourselves untold heartache, and will 
cause our nights, which should be de- 
voted to refreshing sleep, to be invaded 
with troops of anxious forebodings, 
hopeless longings, and vain regrets. Our 
trials become the more painful as we 
attempt with our finite minds to fathom 
them and with our limited strength to 
remove them. 

74 



Increasing Trouble. 

There are many things that enter our 
lives that are not of great importance, 
but if we allow our minds to dwell much 
upon them, they can soon have the 
power to worry and harass us, so as to 
make us very unhappy. By giving 
license to our thoughts, it is very easy 
to fret ourselves about evil-doers and 
evil-doing. 

Our blessed Lord meant something 
more than we are apt to see at first 
reading, when He said, "Let not your 
heart be troubled/ ' He surely meant 
to say that we have it in our power to 
control our thoughts and emotions and 
that we can increase or diminish our 
troubles. He urged His disciples not to 
dwell on the sad and dark side of their 
trials and sorrows. 

There is a phase of so-called Chris- 
tian Science that is correct. All errone- 
ous teaching is apt to have in it some 
elements of truth, to make it plausible. 

75 



The Gift of Suffering. 

When this recent cult endeavors to turn 
troubled ones from the consideration of 
their ills, it teaches just what Jesus 
taught, but from an entirely different 
and higher point of view. He taught 
that His people should not be unduly 
anxious and that they should not per- 
mit their hearts to be overcharged with 
trouble. In other words, reason and 
revelation indicate that we can do much 
toward lessening heartache by thinking 
less of our ills and trials and by turning 
our thoughts toward God and the great 
goodness He is all the while bestowing 
upon us. 

Our moments of gloom are largely 
the creation of our own imagination. 
We too frequently exaggerate our 
grievances and dwell needlessly upon 
our perplexities. It is true that we 
have times when we have cause for 
some depression, but by unduly consid- 
ering our trials, as we are so apt to do, 

76 



Increasing Trouble. 

we greatly increase our misery. If 
there is gloom in our hearts, it is too 
often owing to our keeping God's pres- 
ence and goodness out of view. There 
is no reason why we should go mourn- 
ing through this fair world in which 
God reveals to us so much beauty and 
happiness. 

By dwelling too much upon our situ- 
ation in life, we can make that a trouble 
or care which is really none. How some 
of us have a natural propensity to think 
the worst of whatever occurs ! How we 
can anticipate evil that never can come ! 
How we can evolve the mountain out of 
the mole hill ! It has been said that one- 
half of life's troubles are imaginary. 
How we are inclined to borrow trials 
from the future and to cross the river 
before we come to it ! How easy it is to 
grumble and complain when our hearts 
should gush with praise and our tongues 
should be fluent with thanksgivings! 

77 



The Gift of Suffering. 

How we can make ourselves miserable 
by mere fancies and surmises ! 

In the Moravian Church Litany of 
former years there were three petitions 
that surely might occupy a place in the 
personal devotions of every follower of 
the Lord who would diminish the cares 
and troubles of life. They read as fol- 
lows: 

"From needless perplexity, 
From untimely projects, 
From the unhappy desire of becoming great, 
Good Lord, deliver us" 

How many who really have many 
causes for thanksgiving think and feel 
that their environment is against them ! 
Their hearts restless, their minds un- 
easy, their nerves easily agitated, they 
work themselves into a ferment. They 
boil. They feel that they are not ap- 
preciated, that they are misrepresented 
and misunderstood. Suffice it to say 
such too often, under the influence of 

78 



Increasing Trouble. 

wrong thinking, make a trouble out of 
nothing or make a great worry out of 
a very small matter, and thus choke up 
the sensitive tubes through which 
God's joy might flow into the soul. 

Pain may be greatly exaggerated by 
the action of the mind. A person may 
pity himself or herself until a most ab- 
normal condition establishes itself. It 
is stated on good authority that nervous 
fatigue suffered from the dentist's chair 
is largely due to the needless strain of 
expected hurt, rather than from actual 
pain inflicted. 

A recent writer says, "We can easily 
increase whatever illness may attack us 
by nervous strain which comes from 
anxiety, fright or annoyance. I have 
seen a woman retain a severe cold for 
days more than was necessary, simply 
because of the chronic state of strain 
she kept herself in by fretting about it. 
And in another unpleasantly amusing 

79 



The Gift of Suffering. 

case the sufferer's constantly expressed 
annoyance took the form of working 
almost without intermission to find 
remedies for herself. Without using 
patience enough to wait for the result 
of one remedy, she would rush to an- 
other until she became — so to speak — 
twisted and snarled in the meshes of a 
cold which it took weeks to cure. This 
is not uncommon and not confined to a 
cold in the head." * 

Not only should we endeavor to turn 
our minds from unduly contemplating 
our reverses and trials, but to possess 
true heart-ease we must increasingly 
realize that the Lord who said, "Let not 
your heart be troubled," is Himself very 
closely related to us, and that He, as our 
Elder Brother, is never for a moment 
a cold and indifferent spectator to even 
our most trivial cares. He, as no other, 
is touched with a feeling of our infirmi- 



* Annie Payson Call. 

80 



Increasing Trouble. 

ties. He, as none else, can truly under- 
stand us and is able to measure out to us 
grace and help according to our hourly 
need. 

True solace and support we can only 
find in the God-Man, Jesus Christ. He 
said also to His troubled disciples, "Ye 
believe in God, believe also in Me." Be- 
lief in God, the Father, Creator, Pre- 
server and Ruler, is not enough. In 
other words, a mere Theism is not suf- 
ficient to sustain us in the hour of sore 
trial. There are many who believe in a 
general providence and who deny that 
human life is under the guidance of 
change and chance. Such a belief, good 
and excellent as it is, does not go far 
enough, for it cannot and never will af- 
ford the consolation that we require in 
the hours of anguish and distress. We 
need and must have the presence of 
the Man of Sorrows. We need 
the blessed One who quaffed to its 

81 



The Gift of Suffering. 

bitter dregs the cup of human suffering. 
We need the One who thoroughly un- 
derstands every intricacy of our check- 
ered and painful life, by an experience 
which He has made of it in all its most 
trying details. 

True solace can only come to us in 
our troubles and perplexities as we lean 
hard upon the arm of the Captain of 
our salvation, who was made perfect 
through suffering. Patience and forti- 
tude to endure pain can only be acquired 
through imbibing His spirit and in fel- 
lowship with His suffering. The cross 
is the fountain of all true help and 
power. The secret of all comfort ema- 
nates from Jesus, the all-atoning and 
ever-sympathizing Saviour and God. 

Whatever occurs in our daily life that 
is capable of disturbing our spirits or 
marring our joy, at once draws toward 
us His ever-gracious and tender sym- 
pathy. There is never a, moment when 

83 



Increasing Trouble. 

His loving eye and watchful care are 
absent from His faithful ones. They 
are to Him as the apple of His eye. He 
has promised to be with them always. 
We may, therefore, always assure our 
hearts, it matters not what may be the 
source or cause of our troubles, that we 
are not only known to Him, but that 
every event or occurrence of life is 
taking place under His wise governance 
to develop new powers and gifts in us, 
to purify our character, to elevate our 
motives, to strengthen our faith and to 
meeten us for our heavenly inheritance. 
If we drift away from the sense of 
His presence and care, we are truly at 
sea rudderless. There can be no hope 
of making a safe voyage across the 
trackless and mysterious ocean of life, 
if we have not with us the great Pilot 
who controls winds and waves. If, 
however, He is with us, our bark will 
safely ride over the turbulent sea and at 

83 



The Gift of Suffering. 

last cast anchor on the golden shores of 
heaven, where we shall behold the glori- 
fied ones, who have come through great 
tribulation and are forever with the 
Lord. 



& 



The Smaller Troubles of Life. 

CHE kind of care considered in this 
meditation is not so much that 
great and weighty care of life 
which we describe by that more sad 
and sombre word, affliction, but refer- 
ence is rather made to those little anx- 
ieties, those petty annoyances and per- 
plexing disappointments which go to 
make up so much of life and wear us 
out more than the greater troubles 
which we must meet. 

The prophet said, "The little foxes eat 
the grapes." The larger foxes could 
not climb up through the trellis and in- 
terlacing vines, but the small foxes 
could and they destroyed the purpling 
clusters of grapes in the high branches. 
And so the little annoyances and wor- 
ries of life get into the topmost emo- 
tions of our hearts and nibble away and 

85 



The Gift of Suffering. 

destroy our peace and joy, as the 
greater trials cannot. 

Great afflictions, as it were, make for 
us great occasions, and seem to rally us 
to greater efforts, developing in us 
larger powers of endurance. The very 
severity of the trial seems to brace us 
up to do exploits, to be valiant and 
heroic, so that we are lifted up above 
our usual level. The martyr, because 
martyrdom is an unusual event, can 
walk to the stake with manly determin- 
ation and courageous bearing, sup- 
ported by the principles for which he 
is dying. Then, too, he is spurred on 
by the thought that the martyr's crown 
will soon encircle his brow, while in 
his previous life some petty vexation 
from a powerless enemy may have often 
thrown him off his guard, and caused 
him to fly into a temper, saying and do- 
ing that which greatly detracted from 
his manliness and force of character. 

86 



The Smaller Troubles of Life. 

These small worries and petty annoy- 
ances are not only the most difficult to 
meet with calmness and composure of 
spirit, but really constitute the larger 
part of the life which we are now living. 
Life is not made up for the most of 
great joys or great sorrows. Our wise 
and loving heavenly Father has so ar- 
ranged it that comparatively little of 
our lifetime is spent at either extreme 
of human emotion, either of great glad- 
ness or great sadness. 

Great joys constantly or even very 
frequently bestowed upon us would in- 
toxicate and unbalance us, would unfit 
us for life's duties, and would make us 
unmindful of our high destiny. Were 
our spirits always exhilarated with 
joyous emotions, we would live a life of 
dissipation. The word dissipation is 
used advisedly, which means scatter- 
ing. We would waste and scatter our 
God-given powers and opportunities, 

87 



The Gift of Suffering. 

were our estate now one only of unin- 
terrupted ecstacy and rapture. 

Then, on the other hand, great and 
continuous sorrow would soon crush 
and take all heart out of us. We would 
become morbid, saturnine and melan- 
choly. The mind would lose all its elas- 
ticity. The lamp of hope would flicker 
its feeble light and go out into bleak, 
dark despair. 

We live rather on the middle ground 
between joy and sorrow, sharing both 
in smaller or larger proportions. The 
two are constantly more or less mixing 
in our daily experience. Our life barges 
sail between the conflicting currents of 
joy and sorrow. 

It depends, doubtless, much upon our- 
selves as to which of these two currents 
we shall sail in most frequently. We 
have it, of course, in our power simply 
to drift with these counter currents, 
one moment ecstatic and the next de- 

88 



The Smaller Troubles of Life. 

spondent, or to steer the helm so as to 
avoid at least some of the unpleasant 
things of time. If we cannot sail around 
all the disagreeable things, we can at 
least so steady our little boats with the 
ballast of heavenly truth and grace, as 
not to be too greatly disturbed when we 
are in the troubled waters. 

Many suggestions might be made as 
to how we should deal with the smaller 
troubles of life. We will doubtless be 
the better able to bear the ills and trials 
and petty annoyances of life, if we rec- 
ognize them as a part of our heritage, 
to which we must adjust ourselves. We 
are best off if we regard it no strange 
occurrence that affliction in its larger 
and smaller forms is a part of our 
earthly discipline and will surely in 
some shape meet us everywhere. 

It matters not upon what enterprise 
we embark, what new work we under- 
take, what new associations we enter, 

89 



The Gift of Suffering. 

and what hopes may lure us onward, we 
should not expect exemption from trials 
and vexations; but, rather, with our 
eyes wide open, anticipate fresh trials 
or old trials in some new form. 

There are people who shift from 
place to place, who every now and then 
change their surroundings and work in 
the hope that they will find exemption 
from their cares and perplexities, but 
they fail in escaping them. 

It is best at once to settle down to the 
conclusion that trials in some shape will 
meet us everywhere, that we are born 
to trouble as the sparks fly upward, and 
that our estate of sin makes affliction a 
necessary ingredient of our life. 

It is best to accept things as they are 
and will be. There will be vexing cares 
and perplexing things to the end of our 
career. There will be persons that will 
irritate and annoy us ; there will be dis- 
appointing circumstances, so long as 

90 



The Smaller Troubles of Life. 

we are in flesh. The cross-grained 
neighbor will continue to be a disagree- 
able element. Tale-bearers will keep on 
spreading their unkind and false stories 
derogatory to reputation. Ungrateful 
souls will not cease abusing kindness 
nor traducing their benefactors. 

To the end of time Satan will have his 
active agents, even in the Church, who 
will do his evil work for him. By whis- 
pering gossip, by insidious suggestion, 
by sly innuendo, by clandestine assault, 
by maligning motives, by judging hast- 
ily and uncharitably, ere all sides are 
heard and known, and by appeals to 
prejudices, people will continue, like so 
many stinging insects, to fret and 
worry each other till the end of time. 

It is best to take for granted that the 
ten thousand pestering annoyances will 
continue to swarm around us, and that 
nothing short of entirely breaking up 
this earthly life will end these things. 

91 



The Gift of Suffering. 

Leprosy, we read, used to get into 
houses, into the very walls and floors 
and mortar, and out it would break 
every now and then. Nothing short of 
taking down the house, and tearing in 
pieces the walls, breaking up the mor- 
tar and burning up the timber, would 
eradicate the evil disease. 

So sin and trouble have gotten into 
the structure of our being, and there 
will be no end until this earthly taber- 
nacle is taken down and dissolved and 
all things are made new in the resur- 
rection. 

Meanwhile, God's children can enjoy 
no release from vexing cares and can- 
not possess any measure of peace, unless 
they recognize His gracious presence 
and are loyal and true to Him. If there 
be in the heart the silent complaint that 
God is dealing unfairly with some of 
His creatures in allotting to them trials 
from which others are escaping, there 

92 



The Smaller Troubles of Life. 

can be no peace and no tranquillity of 
mind. 

The story is told that, on a certain oc- 
casion, the poor children from the work- 
shops of Hull, England, marched in pro- 
cession to Windsor Castle to do honor 
to Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, with 
these words as an inscription on their 
banner: "We are poor, but loyal." The 
insignia so touched the Queen's heart 
that not only was special attention 
shown these children, but efforts were 
at once put forth to better the condition 
of the people at the manufacturing cen- 
tre from which they came. 

So when the children of the heavenly 
King are true and loyal to Him, they 
not only put their hearts into the frame 
to bear their ills, but they at once draw 
the strongest sympathy and aid to them- 
selves in the midst of trials. With loy- 
alty and love filling their hearts, they, 
as children of the King, are able to sing, 

93 



The Gift of Suffering. 

"Cast down, but not destroyed ; sorrow- 
ful, yet always rejoicing." Such can say 
with an eminent saint, whose feeble 
health made his life like slow dying : 

"I know that trial works for ends 

Too high for sense to trace, 

That oft in dark attire He sends 

Great embassies of grace." 

Ah, yes ! there is set against our pres- 
ent trials and worries a weight of glory : 

"Now the tuning and the tension, 
Wailing minors, discord strong; 
By and by the grand ascension 
Of the alleluia song." 



94 



fl meditation on Resignation. 

IT IS not easy to yield unresisting 
acquiescence to the fluctuating 
and untoward events that enter 
into life. The willing endurance of 
pain and suffering from which there is 
no escape and that cannot be alleviated 
— the quiet submission to conditions to 
which in every fibre of our being we 
feel averse, by nature awaken within 
us antagonisms and arouse rebellious 
emotions. 

And, yet, there are few persons but 
who in some way or another reconcile 
themselves to the adverse circumstances 
of their environment. The sheer force 
of necessity compels many to adjust 
themselves to trials, disappointments 
and suffering which they cannot con- 
trol or avert. Such in sullen silence ex- 
ercise a defiant acquiescence to a power 

95 



The Gift of Suffering. 

which they feel they cannot successful- 
ly combat. They bow to the inevitable 
and submit because they are in the grip 
of the unavoidable. 

Such resignation carries with it no 
laudable quality. For it arises either 
from a species of fatalism, or from 
mental inertia, or from an unresisting 
complacency bordering on feebleness, 
imbecility or senility. It is a passive 
condition of mind akin to helplessness 
and hopelessness. 

Such is not the submission of the 
obedient and intelligent child to its 
trusted and loving parent, but rather 
the subjugation and unwilling acquies- 
cence of a prisoner or slave to a forceful 
and cruel tyrant. Such resignation 
is not the evidence or mark of a deeply 
religious character. It has in it not a 
trace of Christian meekness. It has in 
it no really laudable element. It makes 
hard, phlegmatic and obdurate the one 

96 



A Meditation on Resignation. 

who exercises it. It puts acid into 
whatever sweetness inheres in life and 
changes hope into bleak despair. 

There is a real and nobler resigna- 
tion that it becomes the child of God 
to cultivate and attain. While in no 
way disparaging the severe trials and 
sufferings that attend and make up so 
large a portion of earthly life, and 
while in no manner cultivating a spirit 
of stoicism or indifference to human 
pain, but rather recognizing the mag- 
nitude and variety of human afflictions, 
together with the fact that under Chris- 
tian influence one becomes all the more 
susceptible and sensitive to suffering, 
the Christian can and should adjust 
himself with a degree of joy to the 
adverse conditions of earthly existence. 

Then, too, the fact should be borne 
in mind that, being followers of Christ, 
we are put in the way to experience 
special trials and tests that otherwise 

97 



The Gift of Suffering. 

we might escape. The cultivation of 
the traits and graces of Christian char- 
acter develops in us a more delicate 
and keen sensitiveness to suffering. 
Growth and advancement in the 
spiritual life do not diminish, but in- 
crease our susceptibility to painful and 
unpleasant impressions. We do not be- 
come less men by being Christians. 
Grace does not annihilate nature, but 
enlarging its sphere, refines and ele- 
vates its powers for more acute suffer- 
ing. 

If there be, however, the "seeing of 
Him who is invisible/' if, in other 
words, there be faith in God and in His 
ordering and overruling human events 
to beneficent purposes, then can the 
mind and heart unite in yielding will- 
ing acquiescence to whatever is adverse 
that enters life. In fact, as the severer 
tests come into the experience of devout 
and mature Christians, there will be 

98 



A Meditation on Resignation. 

distilled into their spirit a tranquillity 
that may well mystify those who know 
not the power of God's grace to but- 
tress the mind and impart solace to the 
heart in the hour of sore trial. 

In the earlier stages of a life of trust 
in God, we can but vaguely feel and 
dimly see that divine wisdom and love 
are involved and actively engaged in 
our lives. As, however, through prayer, 
meditation and reliance upon God's 
promises, the inner consciousness is es- 
tablished that there is an unseen, intel- 
ligent and beneficent personality oper- 
ating through the occurrences of every- 
day life toward a greater good, we can 
the more easily adjust ourselves to the 
more trying things that come into our 
pathway. As God's relations to the 
details of human experience are more 
clearly recognized does the conviction 
deepen that "all things work together 
for good to those who love the Lord." 

99 



The Gift of Suffering. 

Assurance takes the place of surmise 
that the highest good will finally be 
evolved out of all the ills of life. 

The mind that is spiritually alert will 
quickly discover the heavenly blessing 
that trial and suffering are designed 
to convey. Of course, there are condi- 
tions which for the moment may dis- 
turb and distress and make us appre- 
hensively anxious, but when faith re- 
gains its poise and we can again be- 
lieve that God our Saviour is with us 
and in us, we have gained the victory 
over any rebellious feeling in the heart. 
Worry always indicates a weakening 
faith and means disloyalty to and re- 
volt against Christ. 

When we recognize our Lord as the 
head of all things and the controller of 
all events and when we are in the atti- 
tude to surrender our wills to His 
greater and wiser will, then can we 
bow our heads and bravely bear up un- 



A Meditation on Resignation. 

der great burdens. We can then exer- 
cise resignation and measurably under- 
stand what St. Paul meant when he de- 
clared, "We glory in tribulation." 

God's will must be supreme. Ed- 
ward Payson, when under a very great 
affliction was asked if he could see any 
reason for the dispensation, replied, 
"No, but I am as well satisfied as if I 
could see ten thousand reasons. God's 
will is the perfection of all reason." 

Christian resignation is a Gethsem- 
ane experience. It is full of keen sen- 
sibility and deepest smart, but still the 
soul, in its anguish, is enabled to say, 
"Not my will, but Thine be done." The 
pathway of pain that our Saviour trod 
and which our feet are so reluctant to 
tread, leads to the gates of pearl. By 
suffering we are bound in fellowship 
with the God-man Christ Jesus, from 
whom we receive inspiration, comfort 
and cheer in our afflictions. Through 

101 



The Gift of Suffering. 

suffering the Christian grows. With- 
out it he withers and decays. The prun- 
ing knife is needful for the richer fruit- 
age of the branch. 

Our life, with its trials and pain may 
at times seem to us harder than should 
be, but as we recall the fact that life is 
a school, a discipline, a mighty factor 
in the divine scheme by which we may 
not only reach the perfection of charac- 
ter that God designed, but the highest 
spheres of glory in the life to come, we 
may confidently believe that "the suf- 
ferings of this present time are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory 
which shall be revealed in us." 

When the natural disposition to re- 
sist God's will has been brought under 
control of the Holy Spirit and we are 
no longer too eager to be released from 
trial which divine wisdom has seen fit 
to give us, the exercise of resignation 
becomes easy. 

102 



A Meditation on Resignation. 

There are yet several suggestions 
that may be presented by which Chris- 
tian resignation may be attained. As 
has been already intimated, there is the 
need of keeping ourselves, by the ex- 
ercise of simple, yet strong, faith in 
vital touch with Christ, the great ex- 
ample of suffering, without whom we 
cannot render submission to God's lead- 
ing and will. We must "know Him . . 
and the fellowship of His sufferings' ' 
(Phil. 3: 10), and "if we suffer with 
Him, we shall also reign with Him" 
(2 Tim. 2: 12). 

To attain and enjoy resignation we 
dare not unduly set our affections on 
earthly things. We have need to real- 
ize that there is something better than 
riches, pleasures and fame and, that 
though deprived of many earthly com- 
forts and even made the subject of want 
and pain, we can yet be contented and 

103 



The Gift of Suffering. 

happy (Phil. 4: 11, 12). Madam 
Guyon sang: — 

"Unknown delights are in the cross, 
All joy beside, to me is dross, 
And Jesus thought so, too." 

The losses that fall to our lot we 
must not take to heart as if something 
unusual had happened, nor should we 
allow ourselves to worry and fret. Our 
greatest gains may come to us through 
the gateway of deprivation. Nor should 
we charge our failures and mistakes on 
God, but ever recognize Him as the 
fountain of all goodness and happiness, 
and that He overrules all things for the 
welfare of His children. Nothing is 
better or higher than Himself, whe 
never forsakes His own. We have need 
to remember that not a single screw in 
the great machine of the universe is 
loose, but from mote to fixed star, from 
the faintest heart-throb of the humblest 
saint to the sweetest song of the bright- 

104 



A Meditation on Resignation. 

est seraph, His ceaseless care is exer- 
cised over all. We may turn our 
stumbling blocks into stepping stones 
on which to ascend to higher things as 
we rest in and on God. 

To cultivate resignation we should 
endeavor always to see the bright side, 
which is always the right side of things. 
We should be grateful and not be fault- 
finding. We must not let the raven's 
croak drown the skylark's roseate note. 
It is better to say, "It is good that I 
was afflicted/' than to despise the chas- 
tening of the Lord. 

To attain resignation we have need 
to be unconscious of our trials and af- 
flictions. A lady in Washington a 
short time ago since wrote these words : 
" 'What an afflicted family they are! 
The father lame, the mother going 
blind, the daughter a cripple, and their 
small fortune gone! I don't see how 
they can endure it all.' The man who 

105 



The Gift of Suffering. 

made the remark was silenced by the 
words of one who had overheard and 
knew the family: 'They endure it be- 
cause they seem unconscious of the fact 
that there is anything to endure. They 
are so thankful that they have one an- 
other that lameness, blindness and pov- 
erty are minor matters. There is more 
smiling and laughter in their home 
than in any other of which I know/ " 

If we believe that God's intentions to- 
ward us are wise and good and kind 
and that His power is adequate to bring 
His good intentions to pass, then is 
trust in Him a delight, no less than a 
duty ; and resignation is more than sub- 
mission — it is submission with rejoic- 
ing. 

How the reflection that God is ever 
faithful and good to His own children 
should stimulate us to rely upon His 
safe and sure leading! He does not 
leave nor forsake us when we trust 

106 



A Meditation on Resignation. 

Him. He does not leave us as orphans 
or foundlings cast upon the highway to 
starve or to be fed, to live in comfort 
or to perish miserably as cruel chance 
may decide. 

Earthly parents do not thus repudi- 
ate their offspring. The mother-bird in 
the hedge will yield her life for her 
brood. And we, who are Christ's, will 
be protected and cared for and not left 
for an hour to the cruelest of all foster 
mothers, Dame Chance. Therefore, it 
becomes us to be reconciled to what- 
ever the God of Love appoints or per- 
mits. 

But resignation not only consists in 
the cultivation of a passive virtue as 
we apply it to a meek and patient sub- 
mission to God's will in providence, but 
also includes the exercise of the active 
powers of obedience as we surrender 
to the performance of God's commands, 

and it therefore becomes us not only to 

107 



The Gift of Suffering. 

suffer, but as well to do His righteous 

will. 

"Peace, perfect peace to him, Lord, 

Whose mind on Thee is stayed, 
Whose every care and anxious thought 
Is on Thy bosom laid. 

"Peace, perfect peace to him who takes 

Thee ever at Thy word, 
Applies to self the promises 

And trusts his living Lord. 



a 



Peace, perfect peace to him who dwells 
In Thy most secret place, 
Whose tired heart may ever rest, 
Enshadowed by Thy face." 



108 



The Uses of Sickness. 

IT SEEMS more natural to speak of 
the uses of health. We speak of 
the uses of sight, but not of the 
uses of blindness. We speak of the 
uses of reason, but not of the uses of 
insanity. We speak of the uses of 
wealth, but not of the uses of poverty. 
Sickness seems to be an unwelcome 
subject because it refers to an abnor- 
mal condition that makes a breach on 
the harmony and order of nature. 

And yet it would be deplorable if we 
could discover no use in sickness. The 
problem of life would be all the more 
complicated and difficult of solution if 
we could find no meaning in sickness. 
There is such a vast amount of sickness 
in the world, that its aggregate is ap- 
palling. It invades every home. It 
attacks every human frame. It takes 

109 



The Gift of Suffering. 

in such an immense area, from the 
twinging nerve to agony that makes 
men welcome death as an angel of mer- 
ciful deliverance. 

If there be no key to this mystery 
then is humanity in a sad plight. It is 
inconceivable that there are no compen- 
sations in sickness for the millions who 
spend so much precious time and en- 
dure so much discomfort and pain. The 
sick chamber, that absorbs so much in- 
terest, excites such anxiety and draws 
out such tides of affection and means 
so much suffering and weakness, must 
surely have some counterbalancing 
equivalent. Shakespeare says: 



There is a soul of good in things evil, 

If men would but observingly distil it out. 



if 



There are, doubtless, more benefits 
and uses hidden in sickness than our 
short-sighted reason can discern. To 
a few of its uses attention is directed. 

We surely should be led to consider 

no 



The Uses of Sickness. 

its cause and source. When health is 
interrupted and we are laid aside, we 
cannot do other than think of the pri- 
mal cause of sickness. Had sin not en- 
tered into the world, there would have 
been no seasons of physical disturb- 
ance. And, yet, the question has been 
raised by some eminent thinkers 
whether our growth and advancement 
would be possible without trial and 
pain in some form. Be that as it may, 
the fact remains that the bulk of hu- 
man suffering finds its cause in sin. 
And yet it is a mistake to imagine 
that all sickness in the world is result- 
ant from the violation of God's estab- 
lished laws in nature and providence. 
Not all sickness is punishment from the 
divine hand. 

If we cannot clearly discover the 
origin of sickness, it is still evident that 
there is a great and eternal good that 

God designs to work out of it. The 

in 



The Gift of Suffering. 

blessed Saviour who bore in His own 
body our "sicknesses" (Matthew 8:17), 
taught that God's glory was involved 
in and to be wrought out of His suffer- 
ings for us. He taught that there was 
pain and suffering that was caused by 
no sin or vice in the sufferer and was 
not inherited from any transgression 
of the parents. He taught His dis- 
ciples, in the case of the man who had 
been blind from his birth, that some- 
times suffering might be ordained for 
the glory of God and for the benefit of 
human character. 

It is not an act of piety to think of 
every spell of illness that comes into 
life, as a specific act of God's doing. 
There may be sickness that is owing 
not only to the direct violation of the 
laws of health, but to man's simple in- 
dolence. There are persons who do not 
keep the forces of life in sufficient ac- 
tion to create the flow and glow of 

112 



The Uses of Sickness. 

health. Such engage in so little physi- 
cal exercise, that, debarring themselves 
from fresh air and sunshine, the forces 
of nature stagnate and self-inflicted ill- 
ness ensues. They rest until they rust. 

While with others it is overwork. In 
the mad rush for worldly success and 
gain, the stores of reserve strength are 
exhausted and health is ultimately un- 
dermined. Overwork, mixed with 
worry and anxiety, disturbs sleep, im- 
pairs appetite, spoils digestion, makes 
respiration irregular and sucks out the 
juices of bodily vigor, so that disease 
does its sometimes deadly work. Cer- 
tain physicians have designated this 
malady as Americanitis. 

Robust and long-continued health has 
in some persons engendered a species of 
presumption. By over-confidence in 
their powers of endurance, skill and 
prudence, they may for a time keep ill- 

113 



The Gift of Suffering. 

ness at bay, but in the end its attack 
overcomes the giant frame. 

Sickness oft comes to remind men 
that they are not exempt from human 
frailty. In the language of Scripture, 
"We all do fade as a leaf." "All men 
think all men mortal but themselves," 
is contradicted when disease lays its 
impartial hand on old and young, rich 
and poor, high and low alike. For there 
are no exemptions. 

Then, too, how sickness teaches us 
that no one is indispensable in the 
world! No one is so important that 
everything will stop when even the most 
prominent individual is laid aside on 
a couch of illness. God can lay aside, 
yea, can allow death to come to His best 
workmen and yet His work will still 
go on. 

Sickness is often made a season of 
great opportunity. Whether it be a brief 
or protracted illness that will never 

114 



The Uses of Sickness. 

leave till death releases the soul, it can 
be made a wondrous aid in revising and 
improving character and spiritual life. 
How prone we are to forget the Author 
and Giver of life and health ! How apt 
we are to become so absorbed in things 
temporal and join in the mad race for 
worldly gain and success, as to lose sight 
of the great aims and purposes of life ! 
How soon habits of neglect of duty to 
God and to our f ellowmen can entrench 
themselves in our lives! What indif- 
ference can speedily establish itself in 
connection with our spiritual devotions ! 
How quickly the reading of God's 
precious Word can become irksome and 
prayer cold and formal ! How the rel- 
ish and zest in hearing the preached 
Gospel can vanish away ! 

How, then, the season of sickness 
makes its opportune advent, so that in 
the quietude of the sick chamber intro- 
spection may be exercised, fresh bear- 

115 



The Gift of Suffering. 

ings taken and new resolves made ! How 
the season of illness opens the way for 
heart-searching and for renewed con- 
secration! Sins, defects, delinquencies 
and shortcomings in character that long 
have been recognized as existing; 
propensities that have long held sway 
against which little resistance was 
made, neglected duties and privileges, 
broken promises and vows, things done 
that should not have been done and 
things undone that should have been 
done — how in times of sickness these 
rise up in dread array to disturb the 
conscience and appall the heart! How 
we reproach and chide ourselves for 
wrong-doing and how we feel the pres- 
sure of duty to reform, repent and 
perfect holiness in the fear of God ! As 
at no other time, on the sick bed we 
make earnest resolves to live more con- 
sistently and righteously. 

It is, however, a humiliating admis- 

116 



The Uses of Sickness. 

sion that must be made that too many 
of the purposes to amend, when a meas- 
ure of health returns are as evanescent 
as the early clouds and morning dew. 
But the fact remains that as few other 
influences, sickness awakens conscience 
and reminds us of our duty to God. 

It often occurs that after a season of 
restoration to comparative health and 
vigor, sickness returns with increased 
discomfort and weakness. Under such 
circumstances the true child of God 
feels the need of stronger trust in the 
wisdom, love and care of the Heavenly 
Father, who "doeth all things well." His 
chastening and corrective hand is at 
once recognized. His mercy and grace 
are prayerfully sought, while the heart 
opens to larger effusions of the help and 
solace of the Holy Spirit. A fresh sea- 
son opens for consecration and for 
gracious anointing. The loss of physi- 
cal vigor must now have its counter- 

117 



The Gift of Suffering. 

balance in new spiritual power. Earthly 
dreams are shattered that heavenly 
visions may open. Called from the ac- 
tivities of earth, the attraction, to use- 
fulness and service in God's immediate 
presence in the realms beyond the grave, 
increases, so that the heart almost leaps 
with joyous desire and anticipation, 

A spell of sickness is a season of test- 
ing and proving; it is a time when the 
metal of character is put into the fur- 
nace that its searching fires may melt 
off the dross of sinful desire, of evil 
thought and unholy motive, so that the 
pure gold may clearly reflect the image 
of the Divine Refiner. We cannot esti- 
mate the loss in the development of 
high character, were we exempted from 
this process of purging and refining in 
our moral nature. Grievous pain oft 
results in glorious profit. How often 
after a severe spell of sickness the trust- 
ing child of God feels that a new power 

118 



The Uses of Sickness. 

has been working in and through him, 
giving him enlarged vision and fuller 
joy in Christ. 

Sickness, it has been said, has a ten- 
dency to make us selfish, because we are 
tempted to think unduly of ourselves, 
our ills, changes and symptoms, and 
yet if its meaning be rightly read it 
broadens our horizon and enlarges our 
hearts. It puts us into fellowship with 
Christ, the Captain of our Salvation, 
who was made perfect through suffer- 
ing; it places us into intimate kinship 
with all God's saints, who through great 
tribulation appear in white robes before 
His throne. United by suffering to the 
once slain, but forever glorified Lamb 
of God and to His redeemed ones in 
glory, the sting is extracted from sick- 
ness and the bed of death becomes the 
bridge from earthly toil to heavenly 
rest. 

How, too, as the weary hours pass in 

119 



The Gift of Suffering. 

the sick room, tender associations and 
loving acts of days gone by come sweep- 
ing back to us through the open gates 
of memory ! How, again, 

"Angel faces smile, 

Which we have loved long since, and lost 
awhile!" 

How the heart hungers for reunion with 
kindred spirits! How the beacon lights 
break with new radiance on the hilltops 
from whence cometh our help ! 

The sick chamber is God's school 
room in which we are taught lessons of 
contentment, patience, endurance, cour- 
age and hope. How we there learn to 
adjust ourselves to changed conditions, 
from the active to the passive life ! How 
the impetuous temper and irascible 
spirit are subdued into quiet waiting 
and peaceful serenity! 

Laid aside, when we yet desire to 

share the activities of busy life, how 

the memory reverts to the mercies and 

120 



The Uses of Sickness. 

blessings that God bestowed upon us in 
past time ! How one thinks of the many 
evil and trying things one is kept from 
because out of reach! How one's 
thoughts turn to other fellow-sufferers, 
who are called upon to bear heavier bur- 
dens of pain and weakness, with less 
creature comforts than we possess ! How 
as the dreary days and wearisome 
nights pass, amid much unrest and dis- 
comfort, one is made to feel the empti- 
ness of all earthly things and yet withal 
how good the Lord is and how His 
spirit inspires in us the most delightful 
hopes of joy and bliss that shall in due 
time be disclosed to us! 

How the trusting child of God feels 
that a strange and blessed power is 
working in and through him, converting 
a bitter trial into a sweet benediction ! 
How he is sustained and made to realize 
that his nature is being purged of its 
grossness and evil and that a new and 

121 



The Gift of Suffering. 

more invigorating atmosphere is en- 
veloping his being ! How he feels that 
the material in his existence is giving 
place to a higher spiritual life and that 
there is given him an elevation of soul, 
being filled with "the joy of the Lord 
which is his strength!" How a new 
sense of praise and gratitude fills and 
thrills his soul! How the heart cries 
out, "The Lord is good, a strong hold in 
the day of trouble and He knoweth them 
that trust in Him!" How thankful he 
is for creature comforts, for home, for 
the sympathy and intercession of 
friends, for the watchfulness, nursing 
and love of dear ones and above all for 
the tender care of the Blessed Lord who 
never slumbers and never sleeps! 

How there is given him the pulsations 
of a new life as he catches a glimpse 
of himself as a new creature in Christ 
Jesus! How the bitter heart of rebel- 
lion gives way to sweet submission ! 

122 



The Uses of Sickness. 

What resignation and willingness to 
suffer when God's presence and help are 
realized in holy experience ! 

Submission to God's will and the felt 
sense of His goodness and love in illness, 
makes the sick room a Holy of holies, 
a Bethel, a place where Christ is and 
where angels descend and ascend on the 
ladder of faith, with sweet messages of 
mercy and love from the realms of 
glory. A sacred atmosphere pervades 
the chamber of the sick and suffering 
saint of God. Ah, yes, when the true 
Christian is enabled in the extremest 
languor and amid the greatest discom- 
fort and pain, to lean upon the bosom 
of his God and Saviour and say, "Thy 
will be done," we behold the victory of 
faith and the outshining of God's glory. 

There is no time when Christ is so 
near and precious as when one of His 
true disciples is sick unto death. As 
the earthly mother is nearest to her 

123 



The Gift of Suffering. 

child when it is in greatest pain and 

suffering, willing to impart her own 

life and health to assuage its anguish, 

so our adorable Saviour is in nearest 

touch when the crisis of sickness has 

come to one of His people. 

"Closer is He than breathing, 
And nearer than hands and feet." 

A professed disciple of Christ passing 
through a long and painful illness when 
grave doubts were entertained as to his 
recovery, wrote these words with lead 
pencil on pieces of paper : 

"My sickness has been of real good to 
my soul. I desire that God shall fulfill 
all the gracious purposes of His will in 
me. If it shall be His will to prolong 
my sojourn in this bedchamber, I bow 
to His all-wise direction and I 'rest in 
His love;' and yet if I could have the 
tides of renewed vigor return to me 
without loss of spiritual thought, I 
would be glad. I would, however, dear 

124 



The Uses of Sickness. 

Lord and God, prefer to be confined to 
this sick chamber with a sense of Thy 
presence, rather than to enjoy the most 
vigorous health while careless in my life 
toward Thee, my Lord and Saviour, 

"This life is not all. Perfect in me 
Thy own great work of grace, whether 
it be by sickness or health. Conform me 
to Thy Will and to what is best for my 
soul and that will most gloriously honor 
Thy holy name. I do not wish to under- 
value this earthly life nor to shrink 
from its duties and cares, but I do de- 
sire to be moulded to Thy Will, what- 
ever it may be. 

"If it be 'a sickness unto death/ pre- 
pare me to meet Thee, my God, and to 
have fellowship with the blessed ones in 
Thy presence; or, if it be a long season 
of illness, then make Thy grace suffi- 
cient for each day, giving me patience, 
resignation and strong trust and confi- 
dence in all Thy promises. 

125 



The Gift of Suffering. 

"Or, if I should even partially be re- 
stored to health, may I not forget Thee, 
Lord, or grow careless in my services 
and devotions to Thee. May the bless- 
ings that Thou hast given me awaken 
in my heart a deep sense of gratitude 
and love to Thee. May I be able not 
only to turn my best and most earnest 
thoughts to Thee when I feel Thy chas- 
tening presence, but as well when the 
sunshine of earthly health and vigor 
falls to my lot. 

"I fear to ask Thee for renewed bod- 
ily health, when I remember the sin that 
inheres in the members of my body. 
/ leave myself in Thy hands. Do unto 
me as seemeth best in Thy sight. Be 
it sickness or health, life or death — Thy 
Will be done. Amen" 

Confined in the sick room, great 
solace has been given the invalid, espe- 
cially on Sundays when debarred from 
attendance upon the means of grace in 

126 



The Uses of Sickness. 

God's house, from reading Hymn 307 in 
the Reformed Episcopal Hymnal, writ- 
ten by the Moravian Poet, James Mont- 
gomery, as follows : — 

"Thousands, Lord, of saints today 
Within Thy temple meet; 
And tens of thousands throng to pay 
Their homage at Thy feet. 



« 



I, of their fellowship bereft, 

In spirit turn to Thee ; 
Oh, hast Thou not a blessing left, 

A blessing, Lord, for me? 



"The dew lies thick on all the ground, 
Shall my poor fleece be dry? 
The manna rains from heaven around, 
Shall I of hunger die? 

"Behold Thy prisoner, loose my bands, 
If 'tis Thy gracious will; 
If not, contented in Thy hands, 
Behold Thy prisoner still. 

"I may not to Thy Courts repair, 
Yet here Thou surely art ; 
Oh, give me here a house of prayer, 
Here Sabbath- joys impart, 

127 



a 



The Gift of Suffering. 

Oh, make Thy face on me to shine, 
That doubt and fear may cease ; 

Lift up Thy countenance benign 
On me, and give me peace." 

Prayer for a Sick Person. 

O Father of mercies and God of all com- 
fort, our only help in time of need ; Look down 
from heaven, we humbly beseech Thee, be- 
hold, visit, and relieve Thy sick servant, for 
whom our prayers are desired. Look upon 
him with the eyes of Thy mercy ; comfort him 
with a sense of Thy goodness; preserve him 
from the temptations of the enemy ; give him 
patience under his affliction ; and, in Thy good 
time, restore him to health, and enable him 
to lead the residue of his life in Thy fear, and 
to Thy glory. Or else give him grace so to 
take Thy visitation, that, after this painful 
life is ended, he may dwell with Thee in life 
everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 

(From the Prayer Book.) 



128 



Recovery from Sickness. 

CHERE are two theories held as to 
the preservation of health and 
recovery from sickness. Some 
contend that by the observance of cer- 
tain simple laws of health, together 
with the use of known material means 
under the advice of skilled physicians, 
not only will health be safe-guarded, 
but when physical disturbance occurs 
in the way of sickness, vigor, under 
normal conditions, will be restored to 
the body. Such do not ignore mental 
therapeutics, but regard with doubt or 
indifference the fact that there inheres 
any efficacy to heal in spiritual or divine 
influence. God's intervention to arrest 
and remove the ravages of bodily dis- 
ease, is practically eliminated from 
their thinking. 

Another class of persons hold that in 
dealing with sickness, physicians, drugs 

129 



The Gift of Suffering. 

and all material means are needless, if 
not of evil origin. Such contend that 
God is the great Healer and that, inde- 
pendent of the use of all means, in re- 
sponse to certain mental conditions and 
in answer to faith and prayer, health 
and vigor are imparted or restored to 
the body. 

Both these views are equally extreme. 
But, like other forms of error, these op- 
posite views have each in them suffi- 
cient elements of fact and truth to make 
them plausible to the certain minds that 
do not properly consider both sides or 
rather all sides of this subject. 

There can be no question that there 
are means divinely provided for the 
preservation of bodily health and for 
the removal of certain forms of disease. 
The whole fabric of life is based upon a 
system of means to the attainment of 
certain definite aims and ends. It mat- 
ters little how sincere people may seem 

13Q 



Recovery from Sickness. 

to be in repudiating the use of material 
methods and in opposing medical sci- 
ence in dealing with physical maladies, 
their reasoning logically would lead to 
the disruption of the entire order of 
things under which we now live. The 
theory is against common sense and rea- 
son, as it is against the teachings of 
divine revelation. 

Food is a means, and certainly a very 
material means, to an end; namely, to 
sustain animal life. It is self-evident 
that if a man declines to eat food, he 
cannot expect the body to retain its 
strength, elasticity and vigor. He must 
not only partake of food, but he must 
exercise wise discretion as to its sort, 
quality and quantity that will best as- 
similate in his system to produce the 
best physical results. 

God has made known to mankind both 
in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms 
of nature, certain curative agencies, 

131 



"The Gift of Suffering. 

which He surely designed should be 
used — medicines that will alleviate 
pain and instantly arrest certain mal- 
adies of the human body. Even dogs 
and cats and other animals, with their 
inferior instincts, have discovered that 
there has been provision made for 
some of the ills to which these dumb 
brutes are heir; remedies which they 
seek and use. 

It is easy not only to indicate what 
surgery has done for alleviating human 
ailments and misery, but also what ma- 
teria medica, under the skillful direc- 
tion of physicians, has accomplished for 
the relief and cure of sickness. What 
parasites have been destroyed and how 
their toxins have been neutralized by 
medical science! What disinfectants 
have done to lessen disease ! What san- 
itation and cleanliness, insisted upon 
by the medical profession has done in 
lessening disease germs ! How most of 

132 



Recovery from Sickness. 

the zymotic diseases have been brought 
under control! How some of the most 
terrible scourges of humanity have al- 
most been made extinct by medical sci- 
ence! 

Those who speak lightly of medical 
science as if it consisted in a bewilder- 
ing mixture of unpleasant drugs, do not 
realize what it has already done for hu- 
manity and how it has almost stamped 
out of existence typhus in some of the 
larger cities and how the death rate in 
certain virulent diseases has been re- 
duced as much as sixty per cent. The 
head medical official of New York City, 
in a recent publication, states that 
within ten years there has been a re- 
duction of forty per cent, in the number 
of cases of phthisis or pulmonary dis- 
ease. There are physicians whose san- 
guine hopes have led them to predict 
that in twenty-five years this terrible 
scourge can not only be brought under 

133 



The Gift of Suffering. 

control, but eliminated. Many most 
striking facts could easily be adduced 
showing the efficacy and beneficent re- 
sults of medical science. 

Now, while admitting, as it is most 
just and right so to do, that medical sci- 
ence has a most important place and 
purpose to fill in human life, and that 
physicians, nurses and materia medica 
are invaluable agents conducive to the 
prolongation of life and the preserva- 
tion of bodily health and the restora- 
tion of physical vigor, it becomes us not 
to hold, as some are inclined to do, too 
tenaciously to a purely material basis 
from which to explain the phenomenon 
of healing or restoration to health. 

We greatly err when we do not take 
into account the operation of spiritual 
forces in conjunction with natural laws 
and the use of material means. We can- 
not, without injury to ourselves, ignore 
the Great Being in whom we live and 

134 



Recovery from Sickness. 

move and have our being ; under whose 
governance medical science came into 
existence; who invested certain miner- 
als and herbs in nature with curative 
agencies; who called apart a class of 
men whose profession and business it 
should be to minister to the accidents, 
diseases and fleshly ills of their fellow- 
men. 

Nor should the fact be overlooked 
that God holds not only a constant and 
most active relation to our earth, sus- 
taining and perpetuating its existence, 
but also to the human body, with its 
maladies, both through the agencies 
that He has made known to us and 
though direct intervention of energy 
which, apart from known means, He is 
pleased to exert for the restoration of 
bodily health. 

God works through laws that He has 
brought into being and which He keeps 
in operation. It is God who created 

135 



The Gift of Suffering. 

the physician's mind, with its capacity 
to acquire wisdom and skill so as to cor- 
rectly diagnose the diseases of the hu- 
man body, and then to prescribe the spe- 
cific remedies. It is God who imparts, in 
response to diligent study and research, 
to the surgeon the special physiological 
knowledge and fine skill of the hand so 
that he may alleviate the injuries and 
accidents that befall the human body, 
removing its tumors, deformities and 
other abnormal conditions. 

It is God who originally placed the 
virtue into the medicines that nature 
furnishes and which the physician pre- 
scribes. The physician's mind, whether 
he acknowledges it or not, is a thing not 
of his own making, but is an efflux from 
God, from which mind God withdraws 
Himself no more than He separates 
Himself from nature in general. Nor 
are the medicines isolated from God's 
volition and active energizing power. 

136 



Recovery from Sickness. 

Neither the physician or the medicine 
works by itself and of itself. 

"The fact that an alkali neutralizes 
an acid is not something inherent in the 
alkali, or originally given, and from 
which God has withdrawn, but it is 
God's active energy put forth in the 
one, touching the other, and producing 
the neutral salt. So, in the appliance 
of any medicine to disease, it is not a 
virtue originally given by God which 
exists in the medicine and works out 
the cure, independently of God; but it 
is God's beneficence in that medicine 
and God's skill and power and presence 
directing the efficacy that He puts into 
it, and bringing forth the result of 
health to the patient. Let us never sup- 
pose that what are called second causes 
are innate in things originally created 
so, and afterward left to themselves. 
Let us not suppose that they were first 
imbued with certain uses, efficacy and 

137 



The Gift of Suffering. 

virtues and then cut off from God. They 
are still sustained by Him, deriving, ev- 
ery instant, their virtues and their vi- 
tality from Him. They could no more 
subsist with that vitality and that vir- 
tue if they were withdrawn from God 
than the rivulet can exist severed from 
the fountain, or a flower can bloom cut 
off from the root on which it grows." * 
The only explanation of all things is 
God. All life, all power, all efficacy, 
all health depend upon and proceed 
from Him. He is the source and re- 
newal of all power. All healing of the 
body, whether it be through the physi- 
cian's learned advice or the medicines 
he skilfully prescribes, is from God, 
who is the Supreme First Cause. It is 
not the farmer who creates the grains 
of wheat. He merely aids the process 
in nature by which is produced the 
golden harvest. So, the physician does 



Rev. John dimming. 

138 



Recovery from Sickness. 

not create the healthy tissue, he merely 
assists the body to make full use of the 
recuperative energy which God has 
placed in the human body and in His 
laws and in the curative means that He 
has made known to man. 

God is the giver of every good and 
perfect gift. Life has its source in Him 
and moment by moment emanates from 
Him. The body, when harmed by dis- 
ease, is restored by vitality and 
strength from Him. 

Whoever the physician may be and 
whatever remedy he may prescribe, 
both are means toward an end; means 
which it is honoring to God to use and 
dishonoring to Him not to use. But, 
after both have been employed to their 
very best advantage, we should lift up 
our hearts above doctors, nurses, drugs 
and every human appliance, care and 
means, and praise and thank the Lord 
God, the giver of all life and healing. 

139 



The Gift of Suffering. 

As before stated, God must be kept 
supreme in our minds as the source and 
vitalizing cause of all health and vigor 
of the body. We forfeit the use of great 
spiritual forces at our command if we 
attach undue importance to secondary 
means or causes. 

We have need to entertain correct 
views of God in His relation to our bod- 
ies. It is His purpose that we should 
be in perfect physical health. The life 
that He enjoins us to live in the flesh 
is in positive antagonism to disease, 
which in one way or another ever has 
its source in sin. Perfect health, ac- 
cording to God's design, is man's nor- 
mal condition. While sickness, suffer- 
ing and all human misery are not of 
God and, like sin, find their cause in 
Satan, yet under His governance are 
overruled by Him and made the means 
of discipline and spiritual advance- 
ment to us. God has made all suffer- 

140 



Recovery from Sickness. 

ing the background upon which He has 
spanned the rainbow of a new hope 
and a better life. 

The Son of God, garbed in human 
flesh, did not, in His mission among 
men, ignore physical health. It is be- 
yond controversy that He devoted a 
large portion of His ministry to heal- 
ing of the sick. He sent forth His dis- 
ciples to fulfill the two-fold mission of 
preaching the Gospel and healing the 
sick. 

He never intimated that the powers 
of healing with which He invested 
them would be withdrawn. But He 
rather promised that His spirit and 
presence should be continued for all 
time to His faithful servants and that 
healing power should be perpetuated 
to them. He allowed these most sig- 
nificant words to pass from His lips: 
"The works that I do, shall ye do also, 
and greater works than these shall ye 

14X 



The Gift of Suffering. 

do," John 14: 12. When He gave the 
great commission to His disciples to 
preach the Gospel to all the world, He 
expressly imparted special power to 
them, declaring that "They shall lay 
hands upon the sick and they shall re- 
cover," Mark 16: 15-18. 

It must be borne in mind, that the 
severest historical criticism has not 
been able to disprove the fact that for 
nearly three centuries of the Christian 
era, certain of the primitive Christians 
were endowed with miraculous powers. 
These miracles of healing took place 
not in privacy, like the alleged super- 
natural visions of Mohammed, but in 
the open light of day, in the midst of 
many of the professed enemies of 
Christianity. These miracles were not 
ostentatious manifestations of power, 
but done in the natural order of things 
to indicate the beneficence and love that 

142 



Recovery from Sickness. 

inhered in the religion of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

When, after the conversion of the 
Emperor Constantine, paganism be- 
came identified with Christianity, a 
wave of materialism swept over the 
Church that caused a mighty decline in 
spiritual life. The power of healing re- 
mained in the Church for two centuries, 
gradually, however, disappearing in 
the growing worldliness, corruption, 
formalism and unbelief that took pos- 
session of the Church, 

Doubtless, with a revival of the prim- 
itive faith and a deepening of spiritual 
life and a more marked recognition of 
the Holy Spirit and of the influence of 
the Living Christ, the long-lost power 
of healing will be restored to the gen- 
eral Church. When our faith can again 
rest firmly on the great principles and 
promises of the Bible and Christians 
can withstand the scepticism and oppo- 

143 



The Gift of Suffering. 

sition of the world, supernatural power 
will doubtless be more manifest. 

It has been said that the present need 
of the Church is that it requires to be 
adapted to the age in which we live; 
might it not be more truly declared 
that our greatest need is that the age 
be adapted to the early Church, that it 
be reshaped to the Apostolic model? 
The Church is in rather an unfortunate 
condition. The clamor of skeptics 
against miracles and the fear to ac- 
knowledge that there inheres any mir- 
aculous power in Christianity, has al- 
most frightened the people of God out 
of their faith in supernatural power. 
The Church has drifted into an unseem- 
ly cautiousness about miracles. 

There may, however, come a day of 
spiritual awakening and, in conse- 
quence, clearer manifestation of super- 
natural power, when divine healing of 

144 



Recovery from Sickness. 

the body may be in as great evidence 
as it was in the Apostolic age. Wheth- 
er it will come through the direct inter- 
positions of God through His Church 
without the use of material means, or 
through wonderful discoveries in ma- 
teria medica and mighty accretions of 
knowledge and skill through the medi- 
cal profession, we know not. There 
may be ushered in a period, not of false- 
ly-called, but real, Christian Science, 
when God will be glorified as never 
previously through agencies as yet un- 
known, and when the medical profes- 
sion will more quickly recognize the Di- 
vine Mind involved in life and health, 
and when sickness will be treated as a 
moral malaria contracted by our get- 
ting on Satan's territory and that 
health will be promoted by residence on 
the holy ground of strong faith in God. 
Were the thought of Christ's pro- 
fessed disciples more fully focused on 

145 



The Gift of Suffering. 

His power to heal their bodily maladies, 
wondrous results in the way of allevi- 
ating their sicknesses would doubtless 
ensue, with marked accretions of physi- 
cal vigor, vitality and elasticity. 

As already observed, we are no- 
where taught that God has withdrawn 
the supernatural power with which He 
endowed the early Church. Our Lord 
placed no limitation upon power to heal, 
either as to duration in time or breadth 
of its exercise. Hence without ques- 
tion there are vast spiritual forces at 
our command for lessening sickness, of 
which, from lack of faith, we are de- 
prived. 

As individuals, we can do much to 
help and heal each other in times of ill- 
ness. And is it to be supposed for an 
instant that our Lord, who is our best 
and truest friend, cannot and will not 
render aid and comfort to His trusting 
people in their hours of sickness and 

146 



Recovery from Sickness. 

trial, if in faith they cry to Him? All 
power in heaven and earth is in His 
hands, and since He loves His own peo- 
ple with an everlasting love, He surely 
will not fail nor forsake them in their 
hours of sore need. 

His question, as of old, is, "Dost thou 
believe? Will thou be made whole?" 
If there be slowness in the process of 
healing, it is because of our own slow- 
ness in believing and appropriating 
Christ's healing power. We receive 
little because we take so hesitatingly 
and meagrely out of His fulness of 
power. 

The principle in His kingdom, "As 
thy faith, so be it unto thee," has not 
been rescinded. Christ is "the same 
yesterday, to-day and forevermore." 
The trouble is that our faith is not 
adequate to the conditions of receiving 
the blessings that are ours in Him. 

We suffer more than we have need 

147 



The Gift of Suffering. 

to suffer. Were we to learn more 
promptly the lessons God would have 
us learn in the School of the Sick Room, 
and were our trust in Christ, the blessed 
Healer, more compact, abiding and ac- 
tive, we might escape many an hour of 
severe discipline and enjoy many a day 
of physical vigor and mental hopeful- 
ness. 

The Great Physician is ever near. 
His healing balm is at hand ready for 
our appropriation according to the 
measure of our faith. As we come into 
vital realization of our oneness with 
Him, the Great Healer, and live in and 
breathe His Spirit, we open the channel 
for the inflowing of His own pure and 
health-giving life into our mortal 
bodies. In other words, whenever the 
soul is receptive and absorbs Christ's 
life there is the influx of His vital and 
restorative power for the body as for 
man's immaterial being. 

148 



Recovery from Sickness. 

The essential condition of becoming 
recipients of Christ's healing power is 
therefore this, that our attitude be one 
of entire surrender to Him; of simple, 
yet steady, dependence upon Him, as 
-our Saviour and Healer; of willingness 
that our sinful and defective life shall 
be crucified and that His spirit shall 
dominate and rule us in all things. Thus 
there is assured to us, not only the re- 
demption of the soul, but as well that of 
the body, so that it may exchange its 
conditions of sin, disease and weakness 
for purity, health and vigor. 

Our cry, meanwhile, is — 

"Heal us, Emmanuel, here we are 

Waiting to feel Thy touch ; 
Deep wounded souls to Thee repair, 
And, Saviour, we are such." 

Thanksgiving for a Recovery from Sickness 

O God, who art the giver of life, of health, 
and of safety ; We bless Thy Name, that Thou 
hast been pleased to deliver from his bodily 
sickness this Thy servant, who now desires 

149 



The Gift of Suffering. 

to return thanks unto Thee, in the presence 
of all Thy people. Gracious art Thou, O 
Lord, and full of compassion to the children 
of men. May his heart be duly impressed 
with a sense of Thy merciful goodness, and 
may he devote the residue of his days to an 
humble, holy, and obedient walking before 
Thee ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

(From the Prayer Book.) 



150 



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